PREVALENCE AND PHYLOGENETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF HTLV-I ISOLATES FROM FAR-EASTERN RUSSIA

Citation
M. Yamashita et al., PREVALENCE AND PHYLOGENETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF HTLV-I ISOLATES FROM FAR-EASTERN RUSSIA, Molecular biology, 29(5), 1995, pp. 697-703
Citations number
52
Language
INGLESE
art.tipo
Article
Categorie Soggetti
Biology
Journal title
ISSN journal
0026-8933
Volume
29
Issue
5
Year of publication
1995
Part
2
Pages
697 - 703
Database
ISI
SICI code
0026-8933(1995)29:5<697:PAPCOH>2.0.ZU;2-U
Abstract
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.