Inflammatory and anti-inflammatory responses in human T-lymphotropic virus Type 1 infection

Abstract

Human T-lymphotropic virus Type 1 (HTLV-1) is a viral infectious agent that may cause chronic infection of T lymphocytes. HTLV-1 infection is related to multiple human diseases, including adult T-cell leukemia, which is a neoplastic growth of HTLV-1-infected T cells, and neoplastic inflammatory conditions such as HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), Sjögren’s syndrome, polymyositis uveitis, and bronchoalveolitis. T regulatory cells (Tregs), also known as regulatory T cells, and T helper 17 (Th17) cells, a distinct subset of cluster differentiation T cells with interleukin-17 as their major cytokine, orchestrate the pathogenesis of anti-inflammatory and inflammatory responses in HTLV-1-mediated diseases. In this review, we aim to evaluate the immune responses of Tregs as anti-inflammatory cells and Th17 cells as inflammatory cells in HTLV-1 infection.