RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANTI-TAX ANTIBODY-RESPONSES AND COCULTIVATABLE VIRUS IN HTLV-1-INFECTED RABBITS

The presence of anti-Tax antibody responses in human T cell leukemia v irus type I (HTLV-I)-infected individuals has been correlated with inc reased proviral load, increased risk of transmitting infection, and in creased risk of developing tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-I-associa ted myelopathy (TSP/HAM). In this study, a rabbit model of HTLV-I infe ction was used to determine whether anti-Tax antibody responses could predict the presence of virus with the potential to replicate. Seven o f 14 HTLV-I-infected rabbits developed anti-Tax antibody responses. Th e onset of Tax reactivity was variable, but once detected remained con stant throughout the remainder of the 60-week course of the study. All anti-Tax antibody positive rabbits produced virus as measured by pig expression upon coculture, while pig was detected in only one of the T ax antibody negative animals. Thus the presence of an anti-Tax antibod y response correlates with p19 expression following cocultivation, and may be a useful predictor of virus replication in HTLV-I infected ind ividuals. (C) 1998 Academic Press.