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Neither molecular diversity of the envelope, immunosuppression status, nor proviral load causes indeterminate HTLV western blot profiles in samples from human T‐cell lymphotropic virus type 2 (HTLV‐2)‐infected individuals
Author(s) -
Olah Ingrid,
Fukumori Ligia M.I.,
Smid Jerusa,
de Oliveira Augusto César Penalva,
Duarte Alberto J.S.,
Casseb Jorge
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.21718
Subject(s) - virology , indeterminate , biology , virus , serology , antibody , immunosuppression , population , western blot , retrovirus , immunology , medicine , genetics , gene , mathematics , environmental health , pure mathematics
Although human T‐cell lymphotropic virus type 2 (HTLV‐2) is considered of low pathogenicity, serological diagnosis is important for counseling and monitoring. The confirmatory tests most used are Western blot (WB) and PCR. However, in high‐risk populations, about 50% of the indeterminate WB were HTLV‐2 positives by PCR. The insensitivity of the WB might be due to the use of recombinant proteins of strains that do not circulate in our country. Another possibility may be a high level of immunosuppression, which could lead to low production of virus, resulting in low stimulation of antibody. We found one mutation, proline to serine in the envelope region in the position 184, presented at least 1/3 of the samples, independent the indeterminate WB profile. In conclusion, we found no correlation of immune state, HTLV‐2 proviral load, or env diversity in the K55 region and WB indeterminate results. We believe that the only WB kit available in the market is probably more accurate to detect HTLV‐1 antibodies, and some improvement for HTLV‐2 detection should be done in the future, especially among high‐risk population. J. Med. Virol. 82: 837–842, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.