The role of human T-cell lymphotropic viruses (HTLV-I and II) in cutaneous T-cell lymphomas.

Although an association between the human T cell lymphotropic viruses (HTLV-I and II) and cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL) has long been suspected, only a minor fraction of patients with this disease have antibodies to the viral structural proteins. However, the consistent finding of HTLV-like particles in cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from such patients has prompted a continued effort to find evidence linking the virus to this disease. Capitalizing on the increased sensitivity afforded by combining PCR amplification with detection by Southern blot hybridization, it became possible to demonstrate HTLV tax and/or pol proviral sequences in freshly isolated PBMC of most patients with mycosis fungoides. These observations suggest a possible role of the virus in the pathogenesis of CTCL, and may impact on diagnostic and therapeutic measures in the future.