Prevalence of human T‐Cell lymphotropic virus type 1 and 2 among patients with malignant hematological diseases in South Chile

Human T‐cell lymphotropic virus type 1 and 2 (HTLV‐1/2) are oncogenic retroviruses linked etiologically to human diseases. In Chile, these viruses have been studied in ethnic populations, or patients diagnosed clinically with HTLV‐1 associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis, but have not been studied in patients with malignant hematological diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence and viral prevalence of HTLV‐1/2 among patients with malignant hematological diseases. Eighty‐eight patients with malignant hematological diseases were tested by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for IgG anti‐HTLV‐1/2 and nested‐PCR for the tax gene. The seroprevalence by ELISA was 3.4% and the viral prevalence by nested‐PCR tax was 18.2%. HTLV‐1 was found in 17% and HTLV‐2 in 1% of the patients tested. HTLV‐1/2 was found in 17.4% of patients with non‐Hodgkin's lymphomas, 28.6% of patients with Hodgkin's lymphomas, 80% of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, 11.4% of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and 22.2% of patients with acute myeloid leukemia. A high prevalence of HTLV‐1/2 was found in patients with malignant hematological diseases. A high proportion of patients were seronegative to HTLV‐1/2 infection, similar to other HTLV‐1/2 associated disorders. Because 50% of patients positive for HTLV‐1/2 were below 30 years old, it is suggested that vertical transmission could have played an important role in these patients. J. Med. Virol. 83:745–748, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.