Seroreactivity to human T cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type 1 and related retroviruses in multiple sclerosis patients from Denmark and the Faroes |
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Authors: | H B Rasmussen B B Kvinesdal J Clausen |
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Institution: | Institute of Life Sciences and Chemistry, Roskilde University, Denmark. |
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Abstract: | A total of 40 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients from Denmark and 10 from the Faroes were examined for antibodies with affinity to human T cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type 1 (HTLV-I) and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and 2 (HIV-1 and HIV-2). Using ELISA, MS patients and a group of healthy controls did not differ significantly in their reactivities to HTLV-I. However, elevated reactivities were recorded with 5 MS sera, whereas only 2 of the sera from the controls produced highly values. Ten patients with other neurological diseases all seemed to exhibit low reactivity in HTLV-I ELISA. The reactivities of 2 MS sera decreased considerably by absorption with an HTLV-I lysate. In immunofluorescence assay, two other MS sera reacted with HTLV-I transformed cell lines as well as with non-infected cells. Examined by Western blotting (WB), a single MS serum produced a distinct HTLV-I p19 band. With ELISA for detection of HIV-1 and HIV-2 antibodies, 2 MS sera exhibited borderline reactions. Further examination of these two sera by WB revealed weak reactivities against p24 and p53 of HIV-1. One the whole, the present observations do not suggest that a putative MS retrovirus would be closely related with HTLV-I, HIV-1 or HIV-2. |
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Keywords: | multiple sclerosis seroreactivity human T cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type I human immunodeficiency virus |
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