Abstract
We examined the antibodies to adult T-cell leukemia-associated antigen (anti-ATLA) in the sera from 858 cases of healthy residents, 302 cases with hematologic malignancies and 63 cases of autoimmune disease. Anti-ATLA was detected by the indirect immunofluorescence assay or enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.
The positive rate of anti-ATLA was 17.2% (148/858)in healthy residents, 98.3% (174/177) in the patients with adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma (ATLL), 87.5% (7/8) mycosis fungoides, 53.3% (8/15) Hodgkin's disease, 15.0% (9/60) other lymphoproliferative disorders, 11.9% (5/42) myeloproliferative disorders and 22.2% (14/63) autoimmune disease. The positive rate of anti-ATLA in the patients with ATLL, mycosis fungoides and Hodgkin's disease were significantly differed from that of human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV-1) healthy carriers in Kagoshima district. However, clinical and pathological diagnosis of mycosis fungoides and Hodgkin's disease was difficult in the ATLL endemic area such as Kagoshima district, so further investigation was needed. While the incidence of anti-ATLA in the patients with other lymphoproliferative disorders and myeloproliferative disorders were not differed from that of HTLV-1 healthy carriers.
In autoimmune disease, the positive rate of anti-ATLA in the patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was 22.7% (5/22) and that of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) was 25.7% (9/35). Four out of 9 patients with RA and six out of 10 patients with SLE who were found to have had blood transfusion, were positive for anti-ATLA. Then, in these disease, the positive rate of anti-ATLA in the patients without blood transfusion were 7.7% (1/13) and 12.0% (3/25), respectively. From these deta, a possible role of HTLV-1 in the etiology of autoimmune disease was not established.
