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Lack of evidence of circulating retroviral antibodies in patients with classic Hodgkin's disease
Author(s) -
Chorba T. L.,
Kalyanaraman V. S.,
Lacher M. J.,
Schulof R. S.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
american journal of hematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.456
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1096-8652
pISSN - 0361-8609
DOI - 10.1002/ajh.2830270104
Subject(s) - retrovirus , antibody , virology , disease , virus , lymphoma , immunology , viral disease , human t lymphotropic virus , western blot , medicine , immunopathology , biology , pathology , gene , biochemistry , myelopathy , psychiatry , spinal cord
Because of the T‐cell abnormalities observed in Hodgkin's disease and the growing number of Hodgkin's disease cases observed in association with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), concern has been expressed that a retrovirus may be the primary cause of Hodgkin's disease. We examined plasma specimens from 17 patients with Hodgkin's disease that were drawn in 1979. Because serum containing antibodies to either human T‐lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV‐I) or HTLV‐II precipitate the major core protein, p24, of HTLV‐I, lack of reactivity to HTLV‐I p24 in all the specimens demonstrated absence of antibodies to HTLV‐I or ‐II. None of the specimens was reactive to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV‐1) by ELISA. None of the specimens were reactive on Western blot assays for HTLV‐I or ‐II or HIV‐1. Lack of evidence of cross‐reacting antibodies to prototype strains of those retroviruses in specimens drawn before the AIDS epidemic suggests that classic Hodgkin's disease is not the result of infection with one of the known human lymphocytotropic retroviruses or a closely related agent.