The human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus (HTLV) and lymphoproliferative malignancies in Jamaica - abstract

The human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus (HTLV) is a type-C retrovirus recently isolated from patients with adult T-cell lymphoma. The prevalence of viral infection was determined in patients attending the Hematology Clinic at the University Hospital of the West Indies by using a radioimmunoassay for HTLV antigen and a radioimmune precipitation assay for the viral core antigen (A Antigen). Antibody has been detected in 7 of the first 40 patients tested - 3/8 with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL); 3/9 with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL); and the only patient in the group who had acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The tests were negative in 4 patients with myeloma; 4 with pernicious anemia and 14 other patients with a variety of other disorders. The three patients with NHL had lymphadenopathy and hepatomegaly on presentation. Two had splenomegaly and one had skin involvement. Two were hypercalcaemic at presentation and the third became hypercalcaemic soon after admission. Large cells with abundant cytoplasm and convoluted nuclei predominated in the blood of two patients in whom bone marrow infiltration was also demonstrable. The histological appearances varied, but large non-cleave cells predominated. Survival was short (two weeks to one month) and there was poor response to chemotherapy. The HTLV-positive patients who had CLL and ALL showed clinical and hematological features typical of these disorders. Further work is being done to try to define more clearly the role of this viruse in causing lymphoproliferative disorders (AU)