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Absence of HTLV‐I infection among seronegative subjects in an endemic area of Japan
Author(s) -
Kinoshita Tomohiro,
Imamura Jun,
Nagai Hirokazu,
Shimotohno Kunitada,
Ito Mizuko,
Ito ShinIchiro,
Ikeda Shuichi,
Nagatomo Masazumi,
Tajima Kazuo
Publication year - 1993
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.2910540104
Subject(s) - provirus , virology , serology , immunofluorescence , antibody , polymerase chain reaction , virus , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , indirect immunofluorescence , immunology , leukemia , biology , agglutination (biology) , medicine , gene , genome , biochemistry , in vitro
To examine the prevalence of infection by human T‐cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV‐I) among seronegative subjects, healthy subjects on Tsushima Island, Japan, where the infection is endemic, were evaluated. A total of 209 healthy adults were examined for HTLV‐I provirus in peripheral blood mononuclear cells by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), as well as for anti‐HTLV‐I antibodies by the particle agglutination (PA) method, the enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and by immunofluorescence analysis (IF). A total of 76 subjects were positive and 133 were negative for the provirus, showing a close correlation with the results of 3 assays for anti‐HTLV‐I serum antibodies. None of the seronegative subjects reacted positively on PCR analysis. These observations indicate that seronegative HTLV‐I carriers are rare in an area of Japan in which this viral infection is endemic.