Clinical Features of Breast Cancer Patients with Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type-1 Infection.

Munetsugu Hirata,Shoji Natsugoe,Yoshiaki Shinden,Hazuki Saho,Yuki Nomoto,Hiroshi Kurahara,Ayako Nagata,Akihiro Nakajo,Takaaki Arigami,Yuko Kijima,Kosei Maemura

doi:10.31557/apjcp.2019.20.6.1909

Abstract

Background:Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a retrovirus that causes adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL), an aggressive form of T-cell malignancy. The relationship between HTLV-1 infection and cancer progression is controversial. HTLV-1 encodes oncogenic protein TAX1 and it is hypothesized that HTLV-1 infection is associated with breast cancer progression. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between HTLV-1 infection and clinicopathological factors in breast cancer patients. Methods:We retrospectively analyzed 610 patients with primary breast cancer who underwent surgical treatment without preoperative chemotherapy at Kagoshima University Hospital between January 2001 and January 2015. Results:When patients with and without HTLV-1 infection were compared, no differences in clinicopathological factors were observed, except for age. Disease-free survival and overall survival rates did not differ between groups. Conclusions:HTLV-1–positive patients were significantly older than HTLV-1–negative patients. It was supposed to be due to the fact that the HTLV-1 infection rate is decreasing. Any effect of HTLV-1 infection on breast cancer progression appears to be negligibly small.

Highlights

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a retrovirus that causes an aggressive form of T-cell malignancy called adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) (Arisawa et al, 2006)
We evaluated the relationship between HTLV-1 infection and clinicopathological factors in breast cancer patients
The geographic distribution of HTLV-1 carriers is quite uneven in Japan and the greatest prevalence is observed in Southwestern Japan (Gessain et al, 2012)

Summary

Introduction

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a retrovirus that causes an aggressive form of T-cell malignancy called adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) (Arisawa et al, 2006). HTLV-1–infected patients are reported to be at significantly high risk of developing liver cancer and lymphomas other than ATL (Arisawa et al, 2006; Tanaka et al, 2016). HTLV-1 infection has been hypothesized to be associated with breast cancer progression. HTLV-1 encodes oncogenic protein TAX1 and it is hypothesized that HTLV-1 infection is associated with breast cancer progression. We evaluated the relationship between HTLV-1 infection and clinicopathological factors in breast cancer patients. Any effect of HTLV-1 infection on breast cancer progression appears to be negligibly small

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion