Abstract
We examined natural killer (NK) cell activity and NK cell subset populations in 18 patients with HTLV-I associated myelopathy (HAM)/tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP), ten HTLV-I seropositive asymptomatic carriers and 20 seronegative healthy controls. The NK cell activity was significantly decreased in HAM/TSP, compared with that in controls. The percentages of NK cell subsets, such as CD16 +, CD11b +, CD56 +, CD16 +CD56 −, CD16 −CD56 +, CD16 +CD8 −, or CD16 +CD3 + cells were significantly decreased in HAM/TSP patients. Of particular interest is that the percentage of CD16 +CD3 + cells, which have a wide spectrum of cytotoxic properties commonly seen in NK, lymphokine activated killer (LAK) and antibody-dependent cellular-cytotoxic (ADCC) effector cells, was significantly decreased in HAM/TSP as compared to asymptomatic carriers as well as controls. The percentage of CD16 +CD3 + cells correlated inversely with the value of spontaneous proliferation of peripheral blood lymphocytes (SPP), which is a characteristic change observed in HAM/TSP.
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