Relevance of HTLV-1 proviral load in asymptomatic and symptomatic patients living in endemic and non-endemic areas of Argentina

• Published in: PloS one 2019-11, Vol.14 (11), p.e0225596-e0225596
• Main Authors: Pineda, María Verónica, Bouzas, María Belén, Remesar, Mirta, Fridman, Ariel, Remondegui, Carlos, Mammana, Lilia, Altamirano, Natalia, Paradiso, Patricia, Costantini, Patricia, Tadey, Luciana, Aulicino, Paula, Mangano, Andrea
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Adult; AIDS; Argentina - epidemiology; Biology and life sciences; Biomarkers; Blood & organ donations; Carriers; Cross-Sectional Studies; Disease; EDTA; Endemic Diseases; Environmental factors; Female; Gene expression; HIV; Hospitals; HTLV-I Infections - epidemiology; HTLV-I Infections - pathology; Human immunodeficiency virus; Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 - genetics; Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 - isolation & purification; Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 - physiology; Humans; Infections; Leukemia; Leukocytes, Mononuclear - virology; Lymphocytes; Lymphoma; Male; Markers; Medicine and Health Sciences; Methods; Middle Aged; Pathogenesis; People and places; Peripheral blood; Polymerase chain reaction; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Viral - metabolism; Studies; Uveitis; Viral infections; Viral Load
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225596

HTLV-1 proviral load (pVL) in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMCs) is proposed as a marker of disease progression but its role still remains controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of HTLV-1 pVL in symptomatic patients and asymptomatic HTLV-1 carriers. In this cross-sectional study the pVL was measured by Real Time PCR in 102 asymptomatic carriers and 22 symptomatic patients (5ATLL, 15 TSP and 2 uveitis). We observed that the HTLV-1 pVL was significantly higher in symptomatic patients (median = 4.99 log10 HTLV-1 copies /106 PBMCs) compared to asymptomatic HTLV-1 carriers (median = 4.38 log10 HTLV-1 copies /106 PBMCs; p = 0.0030). A wide variation on the HTLV-1 pVL levels among asymptomatic HTLV-1 carriers was observed with some pVL as high as those observed in symptomatic patients. The asymptomatic HTLV-1 carriers were divided according to the place of birth and the highest levels of pVL were detected among patients from endemics areas from the North of Argentina. Our results reinforce the usefulness of the proviral load would be a prognostic marker of HTLV-1 disease progression. Moreover, host, viral or socio-environmental factors cannot be excluded as determinant of high proviral load.