Article
Evolution of HTLV-1 proviral load in patients from Salvador, Brazil
Registro en:
OLAVARRIA, V. N. et al. Evolution of HTLV-1 proviral load in patients from Salvador, Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases, v. 16, n. 4, p. 357-360, 2012.
1413-8670
10.1016/j.bjid.2012.06.022
Autor
Olavarria, Viviana Nilla
Gomes, Alline do Nascimento
Kruschewsky, Ramon de Almeida
Castro Filho, Bernardo Galvão
Grassi, Maria Fernanda Rios
Resumen
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa da Bahia (FAPESB) Introduction: Variations in human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) proviral load
(PVL) in infected individuals over time are not well understood.
Objective: To evaluate the evolution of proviral load in asymptomatic individuals and
HAM/TSP patients in order to help determine periodicity for measuring proviral load.
Methods: A group of 104 HTLV-1 infected patients, followed at the HTLV reference center
in Salvador, Brazil, were included in the study (70 asymptomatic and 34 HTLV-1-associated
myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) patients). HTLV-1 PVL was measured
using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) at baseline and again at another point,
either ≤ 12 months, between 12-24 months, or ≥ 24 months.
Results: HAM/TSP patients had higher PVL (ranging from 11,041 to 317,009 copies/106 PBMC)
when compared to asymptomatic individuals (ranging from0 to 68,228 copies/106 PBMC). No
statistically significant differenceswere observed in the medians of PVL in HAM/TSP patients
or asymptomatic individuals over time. However, in asymptomatic individuals with a PVL
below50,000 copies/106 PBMC, a statistically significant two-fold increasewas observed over
time.
Conclusion: HTLV-1-PVL remained stable in both asymptomatic individuals and HAM/TSP
patients over time. Frequent monitoring of asymptomatic individuals with low PVLs is recommended
and further studies should be conducted to assess the course of PVL in these
patients over extended periods of time.