Non-HIV retroviral associations with rheumatic disease

• Published in: Current rheumatology reports 2000-04, Vol.2 (2), p.156-162
• Main Author: Zucker-Franklin, D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Animals; Arthritis, Rheumatoid - epidemiology; Arthritis, Rheumatoid - immunology; Arthritis, Rheumatoid - virology; Autoimmune Diseases - diagnosis; Autoimmune Diseases - epidemiology; Autoimmune Diseases - immunology; Comorbidity; Deltaretrovirus Infections - diagnosis; Deltaretrovirus Infections - epidemiology; Deltaretrovirus Infections - immunology; Disease Models, Animal; Female; Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 - genetics; Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 - isolation & purification; Humans; Male; Mice; Mice, Transgenic; Prognosis; Risk Assessment; Sensitivity and Specificity
• ISSN: 1523-3774; 1534-6307
• DOI: 10.1007/s11926-000-0056-0

While the human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) is the recognized cause of adult T cell leukemia, it is also associated with non-neoplastic, ostensibly autoimmune conditions, such as tropical spastic paraparesis. Moreover,among carriers of HTLV-I, the virus is strongly implicated in the development of a type of arthritis, which resembles rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Mice transgenic for HTLV-I tax develop RA-like pathology and Sjögren's syndrome. Patients with RA and SS in HTLV-I nonendemic regions, such as the United States, are usually serologically negative for antibodies to the structural proteins of HTLV. However, they appear to harbor HTLV-I tax in their peripheral blood mononuclear cells three times as often as individuals who present as healthy blood donors. Because HTLV-I tax transactivates numerous inflammatory cytokines and is not normally found in the human genome, treatment with tax antisense oligonucleotides may provide a new therapeutic approach for selected RA patients proven to be HTLV-I "tax only" positive.