HTLV-1 uveitis

Koju Kamoi,Manabu Mochizuki

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2012.00270

Abstract

Human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the first retrovirus described as a causative agent of human disease. Following adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma and HLTV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis, HTLV-1 uveitis (HU) has been established as a distinct clinical entity caused by HTLV-1 based on seroepidemiological, clinical, and virological studies. HU is one of the most common causes of uveitis in endemic areas of Japan and can be a problematic clinical entity all over the world. HU occurs with a sudden onset of floaters and foggy vision, and is classified as an intermediate uveitis. Analysis of infiltrating cells in eyes with HU revealed that the majority of infiltrating cells were CD3+ T cells, but not malignant cells or leukemic cells based on their T cell receptor usage. HTLV-1 proviral DNA, HTLV-1 protein, and viral particles were detected from infiltrating cells in eyes with HU. HTLV-1-infected CD4+ T cell clones established from infiltrating cells in eyes with HU produced large amounts of various inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, and interferon-γ. Taken together, HU is considered to be caused by inflammatory cytokines produced by HTLV-1-infected CD4+ T cells that significantly accumulate in eyes; therefore, topical and/or oral corticosteroid treatment is effective to treat intraocular inflammation in patients with HU. Further investigation is needed to establish a specific treatment for HU.

Highlights

Retrovirus was first described in the 1970s (Temin and Baltimore, 1972), but its causal relationship with human diseases was not identified until the early 1980s when human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) was identified as an etiologic agent of adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL; Poiesz et al, 1980; Hinuma et al, 1981; Yoshida et al, 1984)
After the discovery of the link between HTLV-1 and ATL, HLTV-1 was found to be a causal agent of HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP; Gessain et al, 1985; Osame et al, 1986) and HTLV-1 uveitis (HU; Mochizuki et al, 1992a,b,c)
Corticosteroid is the only effective treatment for HU to suppress the cytokines produced by infiltrating HTLV-1-infected cells; it is unknown whether long-term corticosteroid treatment adversely affects patients with HU

Summary

Koju Kamoi and Manabu Mochizuki*

Following adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma and HLTV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis, HTLV-1 uveitis (HU) has been established as a distinct clinical entity caused by HTLV-1 based on seroepidemiological, clinical, and virological studies. HU is one of the most common causes of uveitis in endemic areas of Japan and can be a problematic clinical entity all over the world. HTLV-1 proviral DNA, HTLV-1 protein, and viral particles were detected from infiltrating cells in eyes with HU. HTLV-1-infected CD4+ T cell clones established from infiltrating cells in eyes with HU produced large amounts of various inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, and interferon-γ. HU is considered to be caused by inflammatory cytokines produced by HTLV-1-infected CD4+ T cells that significantly accumulate in eyes; topical and/or oral corticosteroid treatment is effective to treat intraocular inflammation in patients with HU.

INTRODUCTION

Kamoi and Mochizuki

Findings

CONCLUSION