Concomitant Infection with HTLV-I and HTLV-III in a Patient with T8 Lymphoproliferative Disease

Abstract

All currently known human retroviruses are T-cell lymphotropic viruses (HTLVs) and primarily infect T₄ cells (reviewed by Wong-Staal and Gallo¹). HTLV-I immortalizes normal T lymphocytes in vitro, and in vivo is associated with adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma^{2 3 4 5} as well as other T₄ neoplasms with various clinicopathological names.⁶ HTLV-II also transforms T₄ cells, but has been detected only rarely in milder forms of leukemia⁷ (and Salahuddin Z, Gallo RC: unpublished data). In contrast, HTLV-III (human immunodeficiency virus) is cytopathic to its target T₄ cell and is the etiologic agent of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).^{8 9 10 11 12} HTLV-IV, more . . .