Document 0725
 DOCN  M9650725
 TI    Molecular characterization of human T-lymphotropic virus, type 1
       (HTLV-1) found in Kuwait: close similarity with HTLV-1 isolates
       originating from Mashhad, Iran.
 DT    9605
 AU    Voevodin A; al-Mufti S; Farah S; Khan R; Miura T; Department of
       Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait; University.
 SO    AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 1995 Oct;11(10):1255-9. Unique Identifier :
       AIDSLINE GENBANK/L42225
 AB    Human T-lymphotropic virus, type 1 (HTLV-1) infection was detected in
       two unrelated Kuwaiti patients with tropical spastic paraparesis
       (HAM/TSP) and in the asymptomatic mother of one of them. The family
       roots of these patients were traced to the Najaf region of Iraq. The DNA
       sequence of three PCR-amplified fragments (env, 512 bp; pol, 140 bp;
       LTR, 704 bp) was determined for each of Kuwaiti HTLV-1 isolates
       (KUW-1,2,3). All three Kuwaiti HTLV-1 were identical in env and pol
       fragments and virtually identical in LTR. Two rare substitutions were
       found in the env and pol fragments. They were shared only with two
       isolates from Reunion Island (substitution in env), and two isolates
       from India and the Caribbean (substitution in pol). The sequences of env
       and pol fragments of the Middle Eastern HTLV-1 isolates were not
       available. However, the comparison of Kuwaiti isolates with
       representative Middle Eastern HTLV-1 was possible for the LTR fragment.
       The phylogenetic analysis of LTR sequences of KUW and 34 other HTLV-1
       isolates has shown that Kuwaiti HTLV-1 belongs to a cosmopolitan a
       subtype of HTLV-1 and tends to cluster together with HTLV-1 originating
       from the Mashhad region of Iran. These results suggest that common
       origin of Mashhadi and Kuwaiti (Najafi) HTLV-1 and the possibility of
       another pocket of HTLV-1 infection in the Middle East, located in the
       Najaf region of Iraq.
 DE    Adult  Base Sequence  DNA, Viral/GENETICS  Female  Genes, env  Genes,
       pol  Human  HTLV-I/*GENETICS/ISOLATION & PURIF  Iran  Kuwait  Middle Age
       Molecular Sequence Data  Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic/*VIROLOGY
       Phylogeny  Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid  JOURNAL ARTICLE

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