Document 0539
 DOCN  M9590539
 TI    [The nervous system involvement in human retroviral infection]
 DT    9509
 AU    Kira J; Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University.
 SO    Rinsho Shinkeigaku. 1994 Dec;34(12):1262-4. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
       MED/95292471
 AB    Human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) is a pathogenic retrovirus
       associated with a chronic progressive myelopathy, termed
       HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM). A chronic inflammatory process has
       been implicated in HAM by a pathological study, but the exact mechanism
       still remains to be elucidated. Our quantitative polymerase chain
       reaction study indicated that the large increase in the HLTV-I proviral
       DNA in peripheral blood is associated with the development of HAM. The
       nucleotide sequence analysis of HTLV-I in central nervous system (CNS)
       tissue of HAM patients revealed that the sequences of HTLV-I genome were
       heterogenous in all cases, and that the pX-defective mutants were found
       frequently in the CNS. Thus, HTLV-I exists as quasispecies in vivo, as
       shown in the case of human immunodeficiency virus. It is possible that
       the HTLV-I pX microvariants contribute to the neural damage, since the
       pX gene products are essential for the transactivation of various
       cellular genes as well as for viral replication.
 DE    Animal  DNA, Viral/ANALYSIS  English Abstract  Genome, Viral  Human
       HTLV-I/GENETICS/PATHOGENICITY  HTLV-I Antibodies/ANALYSIS  *Paraparesis,
       Tropical Spastic/VIROLOGY  Polymerase Chain Reaction  JOURNAL ARTICLE
       REVIEW  REVIEW, TUTORIAL

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