Human T-Lymphotropic Viruses Evolution Possibly Explained by Primate Deltaretrovirus Geographical Segregation

Luis Isamu Barros Kanzaki ,Jorge Casseb

doi:10.4137/rrt.s861

Luis Isamu Barros Kanzaki , Jorge Casseb

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4137/rrt.s861

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Abstract

The primate T cell lymphotropic virus group comprises pathogenic and apathogenic agents found in human and simian hosts. Up to date, three types of the simian T cell lymphotropic virus/STLV and four types of the human T cell lymphotropic virus/HTLV have been isolated and characterized from non human primates and from human hosts respectively. We have not found evidences of STLV-1 infection among new world monkeys and besides fi ndings of HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 infection among brazilian mixed ethnic populations and Amerindians respectively, some unresolved HTLV inde- terminate-Western blot results prevailed among human groups of different ethnic background. Based on recent serologic detection, isolation and characterization of HTLV-3 and HTLV-4 among African populations in central Africa and additional unrefutable evidences of early human migration from Africa and Australia to the American continent previously of Asiatic population migration lead us to hypothesize that human descendents of mixed Amerinds and Africans or remaining Africans explain the very frequent presence of Western blot-indeterminate results for HTLV-1/2 that we and other groups have been detecting and also the unusual absence of HTLV-2 infection among some relatively homogeneous ethnic native human populations in the American continent.

Highlights

Kanzaki and Casseb [1] described the unusual finding of HTLV-1 infection among Waiãpi Amazonian Amerindians
In the beginning of the pioneering HTLV epidemiological studies in Brazil, we suspected that the high incidence of HTLV-2 among some Amerindian ethnicities were related to a deltaretrovirus circulating among new world monkeys; in order to corroborate this hypothesis we screened amazonian monkeys (58 Cebus paella, 5 Cebus albifrons, 5 Cebus nigrivitatus, 6 Callicebus moloch, 13 Callithrix jaccus jacchus, 1 Callithrix argentata argentata, 34 Aotus agarae infulatus, 2 Alouata belzebu belzebu and 10 Chiropotes satanas utahicki) for HTLV-1/2/STLV-1 antibodies by the ELISA test and found none reactive but we had 6 out of 24 african old world monkeys, Cercopithecus aethiops, highly reactive by the ELISA assay [7]
Two new HTLV types were identified in Africa, HTLV-3 and HTLV-4, and curiously, in serological assays screening for HTLV-1 and 2 antibodies, people infected by HTLV-3 or 4, displayed Western blot isolated bands to indeterminate results as we have found among our samples [17,18,19]

Summary

Introduction

Kanzaki and Casseb [1] described the unusual finding of HTLV-1 infection among Waiãpi Amazonian Amerindians. Among certain ethnic ancient groups, in the American Continent, it is very low the prevalence of both, HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 infection [2,3,4,5].

Results

Conclusion