Human T-lymphotropic Virus - Research

Research

While there is no present licensed vaccine, there are many factors which make a vaccine against HTLV-1 feasible. The virus displays relatively low antibody production variability, natural immunity does occur in humans, and experimental vaccination using envelope antigens has been shown to be successful in animal models. Four HTLVs are well established. HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 are both involved in actively spreading epidemics, affecting 15-20 million people worldwide. HTLV-1 is the more clinically significant of the two, as it has been proven to be the etiologic agent of multiple disorders. At least 500,000 of the individuals infected with HTLV-1 eventually develop an often rapidly fatal leukemia, while others will develop a debilitative myelopathy, and yet others will experience uveitis, infectious dermatitis, or another inflammatory disorder. HTLV-2 is associated with milder neurologic disorders and chronic pulmonary infections. The novel HTLV-3 and HTLV-4 have been isolated only in a few cases; no specific illnesses have yet been associated with these viruses. Plasmid DNA vaccines elicit potent and protective immune responses in numerous small-animal models of infectious diseases. However, their immunogenicity in primates appears less potent. Plasmid DNA vaccines elicit potent and protective immune responses in numerous small-animal models of infectious diseases. However, their immunogenicity in primates appears less potent. In the United States, HTLV-I/II seroprevalence rates among volunteer blood donors average 0.016 percent. Approximately half of HTLV-I/II-seropositive blood donors nationwide are infected with HTLV-I. HTLV-I infected donors most often report a history of birth in HTLV-I endemic countries or sexual contact with persons from the Caribbean or Japan. In the past two decades a large initiative has been put forth to understand the biological and pathogenic properties of the human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1); this has ultimately led to the development of various experimental vaccination and therapeutic strategies to combat HTLV-1 infection. These strategies include the development of envelope glycoprotein derived B-cell epitopes for the induction of neutralizing antibodies, as well as a strategy to generate a multivalent cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response against the HTLV-1 Tax antigen.