HIGH PREVALENCE OF HUMAN T-CELL LYMPHOTROPIC VIRUS TYPE-II INFECTION IN PATIENTS AFFECTED BY HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS TYPE 1-ASSOCIATEDPREDOMINANTLY SENSORY POLYNEUROPATHY

The etiopathogenesis of peripheral neuropathy (PN) that frequently aff ects human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1-positive patients remai ns undefined. Forty-seven HIV-1-positive patients with PN (8 with infl ammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy and 39 with predominantly sensor y polyneuropathy [PSP]) and 266 controls with symptomatic HIV-1 infect ion without PN were screened for antibodies to human T cell lymphotrop ic virus (HTLV) types I and II. The prevalence of antibodies to HTLV-I I was significantly higher in patients with PSP than in controls (30.8 % vs, 8.3%; P < .001). All seropositive patients with PN had HTLV-II D NA in their peripheral blood mononuclear cells by polymerase chain rea ction (PCR) analysis. PCR analysis of tissues from 1 patient with PSP who died during the study showed HTLV-II proviral sequences in the fem oral nerve and basal nuclei, These results support the hypothesis that HTLV-II represents an etiologic factor in the pathogenesis of a consi derable proportion of PSP in patients infected with HIV-1.