M. Yamashita et al., PREVALENCE AND PHYLOGENETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF HTLV-I ISOLATES FROM FAR-EASTERN RUSSIA, Molecular biology, 29(5), 1995, pp. 697-703
A study was made of the prevalence and phylogenetics of human lymphotr
opic virus type I (HTLV-I) among the population of Far Eastern Russia.
Serum samples from 3749 apparently healthy volunteers and blood donor
s, covering nine local ethnic groups and migrants from the European re
gions of the former Soviet Union, were collected in the Khabarovsk and
Primorsk territories and on Sakhalin. Two commercial screening tests
and three versions of the Western blot assay were used to detect antib
odies; serologic data were confirmed by detection of HTLV-I sequences
in the cell DNA with PCR. The survey revealed 11 infected individuals;
all lived on Sakhalin, and 10 of them were Nivkhi people from the sam
e settlement Nogliki. They exhibited an unusual immune response, since
only in four cases the sera were consistently reactive in the Abbott
and Serodia tests and contained a broad spectrum of gag-specific antib
odies. For the other seven cases the presence of HTLV-I infection coul
d be proved only with PCR. Phylogenetic analysis of the HTLV-I isolate
from the Nivhki indicated that, according to the classification of Ja
panese researchers, it belonged to cosmopolitan subtype A and was clos
ely related with its Japanese counterpart. These data suggested the sp
read of HTLV-I subtype A among Mongoloid populations.