Figure 2

Comparison of antibody responses against HTLV-1, proviral loads and HBZ mRNA expression of HTLV-1-infected individuals. Comparison of antibody responses against Gag (A), Env (B) and Tax (C) in serum/plasma of HTLV-1-infected individuals with and without antibody response against HBZ by Mann–Whitney Test. The data were obtained from 338 HTLV-1-infected individuals; 145 AC, 89 ATL patients and 104 HAM/TSP patients. Anti-HBZ (−) group includes 130 AC, 78 ATL patients and 90 HAM/TSP patients. Anti-HBZ (+) group includes 15 AC, 11 ATL patients and 14 HAM/TSP patients. The horizontal line represents the mean. (D) Correlation of HTLV-1 proviral load with HBZ mRNA expression in 13 HAM/TSP patients including 6 patients with antibody response against HBZ (closed circles) and 7 patients without antibody response against HBZ (closed triangles) by Spearman’s correlation test. (E) Comparison of HTLV-1 proviral loads between HAM/TSP patients with and without antibody response against HBZ. HTLV-1 proviral loads were examined in PBMCs of HAM/TSP patients using Mann–Whitney Test. The horizontal line represents the mean. (F) Comparison of HBZ mRNA expression between HAM/TSP patients with and without antibody response against HBZ. The expression of HBZ mRNA was examined in PBMCs of HAM/TSP patients using Mann–Whitney Test. The horizontal line represents the mean. (G) Correlation of immunoreactivity against HBZ with HTLV-1 proviral loads (closed circles) and HBZ mRNA expression (opened circles) in 6 HAM/TSP patients with antibody response against HBZ by Spearman’s correlation test.