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Figure 1 | Retrovirology

Figure 1

From: In vivo expression of the HBZ gene of HTLV-1 correlates with proviral load, inflammatory markers and disease severity in HTLV-1 associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP)

Figure 1

HTLV-1 tax and HBZ mRNA load in patients with HAM/TSP, ATL and asymptomatic HTLV-I carriers. A. HTLV-1 HBZ mRNA load was highest in ATL, medium in HAM/TSP, and lowest in HCs. B. The HTLV-1 tax mRNA load between HCs and HAM/TSP, HAM/TSP and ATL did not reach statistical significance, although the HTLV-1 tax mRNA load in ATL patients was significantly higher than HCs (p = 0.014, Mann Whitney U test). C and D. To normalize the HTLV-1 tax or HBZ mRNA expression level per provirus, the mRNA/DNA ratio was calculated by dividing the HTLV-1 tax or HBZ mRNA load by the HTLV-1 proviral load. Neither the HBZ (C) nor the tax (D) mRNA/DNA ratio differed significantly between each clinical group (HAM/TSP – HCs, HAM/TSP – ATL, HCs – ATL). The zero value of tax gene transcripts was observed in 60.7% of HAM/TSP patients (34 out of 56), 71.1% of HCs (27 out of 38) and 30.0% of ATL patients (3 out of 10). The medians are represented by horizontal lines and the statistical differences between them were calculated with a Mann Whitney U test.

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Retrovirology

ISSN: 1742-4690

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