PERSISTENCE OF HUMAN T-CELL LYMPHOTROPIC VIRUS TYPE-1 (HTLV-1) SEQUENCES IN PERIPHERAL-BLOOD MONONUCLEAR-CELLS FROM PATIENTS WITH MYCOSIS-FUNGOIDES

Mycosis fungoides (MF) is a rare form of cutaneous T cell lymphoma sus pected of having a viral etiology. As in adult T cell leukemia, the vi rus involved may be human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1). We cul tured the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of 29 patients wit h MF HTLV-1 seronegative by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and West ern blot. The presence of reverse transcriptase (RT) and p24 antigen w as investigated in the concentrate supernatant of the culture. The DNA of all studied patients was submitted to polymerase chain reaction an d Southern blot analysis using primers and probes recognizing the tax region of HTLV-1/2 and the pol region of HTLV-1. 10 of 29 patients wer e found positive to HTLV-1, whereas they were always negative to RT an d P24. The same results were confirmed in double blind after 6 mo. Our findings suggest HTLV-1 may be involved in the etiology of MF, at lea st in certain cases.