Figure 3

Increased expression of OX40 in vivo in rapidly progressive HAM/TSP patients. A. The plasma levels of soluble OX40 (sOX40) measured by ELISA. The plasma levels of sOX40 in typical HAM/TSP patients (chronic HAM: n=20), asymptomatic carriers (ACs: n=9) and normal uninfected healthy controls (NCs: n=13). B. No correlation between the plasma levels of sOX40 and HTLV-1 proviral load (tax copies/10,000PBMCs) from 29 HTLV-1 infected individuals (20 chronic HAM/TSP patients and 9 ACs). Data were analyzed by Spearman rank correlation. C. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of sOX40 in rapidly progressive HAM/TSP patients (n=3), chronic HAM/TSP patients (n=22) and other neurological diseases including multiple sclerosis (MS) (n=12), aseptic meningitis (n=8), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with neurological manifestations (n=5), chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) (n=9), Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) (n=6), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) (n=9). Chronic HAM/TSP means typical cases fulfilling diagnostic criteria and rapidly progressive HAM/TSP is defined by patients’ incapacity to walk unaided within three months after symptoms’ onset. D. The levels of sOX40 in the CSF from HTLV-1 infected other inflammatory neurological diseases (HTLV-1+ OINDs), i.e. any inflammatory neurological disorders except for HAM/TSP which occurred in HTLV-1 infected individuals, was not significantly different from that of chronic HAM/TSP, whereas the levels of sOX40 from HTLV-1+ OINDs was significantly increased than that of non-infected OINDs (HTLV-1- OINDs). HTLV-1+ OINDs: 1 multiple sclerosis (MS), 1 SLE with neurological manifestations, 4 aseptic meningitis. HTLV-1- OINDs: 9 MS, 5 SLE with neurological manifestations, 7 CIDP, 5 GBS.