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Increased risk of human herpesvirus-8 infection in patients with adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma in Okinawa

Leukemia volume 16, pages 1881–1882 (2002)Cite this article

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Human T cell lymphotropic virus type-1 (HTLV-1), the first human retrovirus to be discovered, causes adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL). HTLV-1 infection, like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, leads to immunodeficiency in the hosts, especially in patients who develop ATLL; ATLL patients are susceptible to opportunistic infections and are at an increased risk of other malignancies. ATLL is an aggressive peripheral T cell neoplasia with unique clinical features such as skin involvement and hypercalcemia. The incidence of ATLL is high in southwestern Japan, particularly in Okinawa.

Human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8), also known as Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, was first detected in Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) tissues from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients.1 Subsequently, the virus has been associated with all forms of KS (classic, iatrogenic, endemic, and AIDS-associated), primary effusion lymphoma, and a subset of multicentric Castleman's disease. KS is rare in Asia, even in patients with AIDS, but the incidence of KS not associated with HIV infection is high in Okinawa.2 Although some cases of KS associated with ATLL have been reported, no study has yet been reported describing the increased rate of HHV-8 infection in ATLL patients.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Guy R Simpson for providing the orf 65.2 plasmid, Carlo Parravicini for providing positive control sera from KS patients and Masanori Daibata for providing HHV-6-positive DNA extracted from the Katata cell line.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Second Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan

    J Miyagi, M Masuda & N Takasu

  2. Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan

    H Uezato

  3. Diagnostics Division, Eisai Tsukuba Research Laboratories, Ibaraki, Japan

    T Sawada

  4. Japanese Red Cross Okinawa Blood Center, Okinawa, Japan

    T Miyakuni

  5. Kochi Medical School, Kochi, Japan

    I Miyoshi

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  1. J Miyagi
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Miyagi, J., Masuda, M., Uezato, H. et al. Increased risk of human herpesvirus-8 infection in patients with adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma in Okinawa. Leukemia 16, 1881–1882 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2402571

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