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The prevalence of antibody to p42 of HTLV‐1 among ATLL patients in comparison with healthy carriers in Japan
Author(s) -
Yokota Tsutomu,
Cho MinJi,
Tachibaobuyoshi,
McLane Mary Fran,
Takatsuki Kiyoshi,
Lee TunHou,
Mueller Nancy,
Essex Max
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.2910430603
Subject(s) - antibody , medicine , immunology , virology , pediatrics
Abstract A gene product (p42) of the long open reading frame, now termed tax, of the viral genome of human T‐cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV‐1) may be related to the transformation of T cells in adult T‐cell leukemia‐lymphoma (ATLL). To evaluate its association with the disease, we compared the prevalence of antibody to p42 in sera obtained from 105 HTLV‐1 carriers and 64 ATLL patients from southwest Japan. The prevalence of the anti‐p42 antibody reactivity was 63% among carriers and 31% among cases. The cases were more than 3 times as likely to lack antibody to p42 than carriers, the relative odds (OR) = 3.4, p = 0.001. When the samples were tested for antibody against p24, the most immunogenic core protein, the prevalence was somewhat higher among carriers (65%) than in cases (52%), but not significantly so ( p = 0.15). Among the healthy carriers, the correlation between the prevalence of both antibodies was high ( p = 0.001), and only 25% of those who had antibody to p24 lacked antibody to p42. However, among the cases, reactivity to both antigens was independent ( p = 0.52), and 65% of those with antibody to p24 lacked antibody to p42, OR = 6.3, p = 0.0004. Thus the strongest serologic marker of ATLL following diagnosis was lack of reactivity to p42, particularly among those subjects with anti‐p24. Whether this altered response is present prior to disease remains to be determined.