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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2000, p. 4049-4057, Vol. 38, No. 11
Unité d'Epidémiologie des Virus
Oncogènes1 and Unité d'Immunologie
Moléculaire des Parasites, CNRS URA 1960,3
Institut Pasteur, Paris, France; Department of Clinical
Virology, University of Göteborg, Göteborg,
Sweden2; and Departments of
Laboratory Medicine, Medicine and Epidemiology/Biostatistics,
University of California, San Francisco, California4
Received 25 May 2000/Returned for modification 10 July
2000/Accepted 23 August 2000
To gain insight on the significance of human T-cell lymphotropic
virus type 1 (HTLV-1) indeterminate serological reactivities, we
studied villagers of South Cameroon, focusing on a frequent and
specific HTLV-1 Gag indeterminate profile (HGIP) pattern
(gag p19, p26, p28, and p30 without p24 or Env gp21 and
gp46). Among the 102 sera studied, 29 from all age groups had a stable
HGIP pattern over a period of 4 years. There was no epidemiological evidence for sexual or vertical transmission of HGIP. Seventy-five percent of HGIP sera reacted positively on MT2 HTLV-1-infected cells by
immunofluorescence assay. However, we could not isolate any HTLV-1
virus or detect the presence of p19 Gag protein in cultures of
peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from individuals with
strong HGIP reactivity. PCR experiments conducted with primers for
HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 (HTLV-1/2 primers) encompassing different regions of
the virus did not yield HTLV-1/2 proviral sequences from individuals
with HGIP. Using 11 peptides corresponding to HTLV-1 or HTLV-2
immunodominant B epitopes in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, one
epitope corresponding to the Gag p19 carboxyl terminus was identified
in 75% of HGIP sera, while it was recognized by only 41% of confirmed
HTLV-1-positive sera. A positive correlation between HTLV-1 optical
density values and titers of antibody to Plasmodium
falciparum was also demonstrated. Finally, passage of sera
through a P. falciparum-infected erythrocyte-coupled column
was shown to specifically abrogate HGIP reactivity but not the HTLV-1
pattern, suggesting the existence of cross-reactivity between HTLV-1
Gag proteins and malaria-derived antigens. These data suggest that in
Central Africa, this frequent and specific Western blot is not caused
by HTLV-1 infection but could instead be associated with P. falciparum infection.
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 Gag
Indeterminate Western Blot Patterns in Central Africa: Relationship to
Plasmodium falciparum Infection



*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Unité
d'Oncologie Virale, Institut Pasteur, 28 rue du Docteur Roux,
75724 Paris cedex 15, France. Phone: 33-1-45-68-89-06. Fax:
33-1-40-61-34-65. E-mail: rmahieux{at}pasteur.fr.
Present address: Unité d'Oncologie Virale, CNRS URA 1930, Institut
Pasteur, Paris, France.
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