Artículos de revistas
Lower numbers of circulating natural killer T (NK T) cells in individuals with human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) associated neurological disease
Fecha
2009Registro en:
CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL IMMUNOLOGY, v.158, n.3, p.294-299, 2009
0009-9104
10.1111/j.1365-2249.2009.04019.x
Autor
NDHLOVU, L. C.
SNYDER-CAPPIONE, J. E.
CARVALHO, K. I.
LEAL, F. E.
LOO, C. P.
BRUNO, F. R.
JHA, A. R.
DEVITA, D.
HASENKRUG, A. M.
BARBOSA, H. M. R.
SEGURADO, A. C.
NIXON, D. F.
MURPHY, E. L.
KALLAS, E. G.
Institución
Resumen
Human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infects 10-20 million people worldwide. The majority of infected individuals are asymptomatic; however, approximately 3% develop the debilitating neurological disease HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). There is also currently no cure, vaccine or effective therapy for HTLV-1 infection, and the mechanisms for progression to HAM/TSP remain unclear. NK T cells are an immunoregulatory T cell subset whose frequencies and effector functions are associated critically with immunity against infectious diseases. We hypothesized that NK T cells are associated with HAM/TSP progression. We measured NK T cell frequencies and absolute numbers in individuals with HAM/TSP infection from two cohorts on two continents: Sao Paulo, Brazil and San Francisco, CA, USA, and found significantly lower levels when compared with healthy subjects and/or asymptomatic carriers. Also, the circulating NK T cell compartment in HAM/TSP subjects is comprised of significantly more CD4(+) and fewer CD8(+) cells than healthy controls. These findings suggest that lower numbers of circulating NK T cells and enrichment of the CD4(+) NK T subset are associated with HTLV-1 disease progression.