       Document 0460
 DOCN  M9620460
 TI    HTLV tax-rex DNA and antibodies in idiopathic amyotrophic lateral
       sclerosis.
 DT    9602
 AU    Ferrante P; Westarp ME; Mancuso R; Puricelli S; Westarp MP; Mini M;
       Caputo D; Zuffolato MR; Institute of Medical Microbiology, University of
       Milan, Italy.
 SO    J Neurol Sci. 1995 May;129 Suppl:140-4. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
       MED/96059168
 AB    In an attempt to verify the possible role of retrovirus in idiopathic
       amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the sera of 21 ALS patients
       admitted to the Neurological Unit of the Don Gnocchi Foundation in
       Milan, Italy, and of 9 ALS patients from Ulm University in Germany have
       been evaluated for the presence of antibodies to the human
       T-lymphotropic viruses (HTLV-I and HTLV-II). The sera of 30 healthy
       individuals and 20 HIV-infected but HTLV-negative subjects have been
       also studied as control. Moreover, the HTLV tax-rex and pol DNA sequence
       have been searched in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of
       15 ALS patients and 15 HIV-positive HTLV-negative subjects using a
       nested PCR currently employed in our laboratory for the study of HTLV
       infections. Antibodies to one or more HTLV proteins have been found by
       using a Western blot (WB) kit in the sera of 10 Italian and 7 German ALS
       cases, while all the healthy controls were negative and only one
       HIV-positive subject had antibodies to HTLV gp21. HTLV tax-rex sequences
       have been found in the PBMCs of 6 ALS patients while all the controls
       were negative. All 15 ALS cases and controls were negative for HTLV pol
       DNA indicating that only the most conserved region of the HTLV genome
       could be detected. On the whole our data indicate that some ALS patients
       have antibodies to HTLV proteins and that the tax-rex region of the HTLV
       genome can be found in their PBMCs.
 DE    Adult  Aged  Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/*METABOLISM  Antibodies,
       Viral/*ANALYSIS/IMMUNOLOGY  Base Sequence  Blotting, Western  DNA,
       Viral/*ANALYSIS/IMMUNOLOGY  Female  *Genes, pX  Human
       HTLV-I/*CHEMISTRY/GENETICS/IMMUNOLOGY
       HTLV-II/*CHEMISTRY/GENETICS/IMMUNOLOGY  Male  Middle Age  Molecular
       Sequence Data  Polymerase Chain Reaction  Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
       JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).

