To evaluate the particle aggulutination test (P.A.) for the detection of anti-ATLA (adult T-cell leukemia-cell-associated antigen) antibody, 1457 subjects including 1243 healthy adults and 105 patients with ATL related disorders, were examined for anti-ATLA antibody using both indirect immunofluorescence method (I.F.) and P.A.
By I.F. 432 (29.6%) of 1457 subjects were anti-ATLA positive (+) and 1025 (70.4%) were negative (-), definitely. By P.A. 422 (28.9%) of 1457 were anti-ATLA positive (+), 1017 (69.9%) were negative (-) and 18 (1.2%) were doubtfully aggulutinated (±).
In 1437 (98.6%) of 1457 subjects. the same results were obtained by both I.F. and P.A. Only one healthy adult was (+) by I.F. and (-) by P.A. i.e. false negative. There was also one false positive case. On the other hands, in cases of HTLV-I associated diseases such as ATL, T-ML and Pre-ATL, neither false positive case nor false negative case was found. It was concluded that P.A. was useful for screening of serum anti-ATLA antibody.
However, since 18 (±) cases with P.A. consisited of 10 positive cases and 8 negative cases with I.F, (±) cases with P.A. must be retested with I.F.
