Document 0340
 DOCN  M94A0340
 TI    Seroepidemiology, viral isolation, and molecular characterization of
       human T cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type I from La Reunion Island,
       Indian Ocean.
 DT    9412
 AU    Mahieux R; Gessain A; Truffert A; Vitrac D; Hubert A; Dandelot J;
       Montchamp-Moreau C; Cnudde F; Tekaia F; De The G; Unite d'Epidemiologie
       des Virus Oncogenes, Institut Pasteur,; Paris, France.
 SO    AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 1994 Jun;10(6):745-52. Unique Identifier :
       AIDSLINE GENBANK/228967
 AB    Data indicate the presence in the Seychelles Islands of a high level of
       human T cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type I (HTLV-I) endemicity as well
       as the presence of tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-I-associated
       myelopathy (TSP/HAM). We present here the results of an hospital survey
       performed since 1988 in La Reunion Island, located in the Indian Ocean
       southeast of the Seychelles archipelago, aimed at evaluating HTLV-I
       endemicity, detecting HTLV-I-associated diseases, and characterizing
       viral isolates. Seven individuals were found to have HTLV-I-specific
       antibodies in their sera. These include 3 of 257 patients from St.
       Pierre Hospital, 1 of them exhibiting a typical clinical feature of
       TSP/HAM (the first described case in this region), 1 blood donor of
       3900, and 3 relatives. A further nine individuals exhibiting only
       gag-encoded proteins by Western blot (p19 and/or p24 bands) were found
       negative by polymerase chain reaction using LTR, pol, and tax HTLV-I
       specific primers. A long-term T cell line, designated Mel.J, exhibiting
       T cell activation markers (CD4+, CD25+, HLA-DR+), and producing HTLV-I
       antigens and viral particles, was established from one of the
       HTLV-I,-seropositive patients. The sequence of a 522-bp fragment
       corresponding to the carboxy terminus of gp46 and the majority of gp21
       were determined for five HTLV-I-seropositive individuals, including the
       TSP/HAM patient. Alignment and phylogenetic comparison of these five
       nucleotide sequences with all the 53 other available HTLV-I env
       sequences demonstrated that the virus from La Reunion Island belongs to
       the group of the HTLV-I cosmopolitan subtype and is not related to the
       Melanesian HTLV-I variants.
 DE    Adult  Base Sequence  DNA Probes  Female  Human  HTLV Antibodies/BLOOD
       HTLV-I/GENETICS/*ISOLATION & PURIF  Indian Ocean Islands/EPIDEMIOLOGY
       Male  Middle Age  Molecular Sequence Data  Paraparesis, Tropical
       Spastic/EPIDEMIOLOGY/*MICROBIOLOGY  Polymerase Chain Reaction  Racial
       Stocks  Support, Non-U.S. Gov't  JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).