From: Impact of host immunity on HTLV-1 pathogenesis: potential of Tax-targeted immunotherapy against ATL
 | ATL | HAM/TSP |
---|---|---|
Pathology | Malignant lymphoma/leukemia [4] | |
Age of onset | 40–50 years (average) [3] | |
Sex | Male > female [131] | Male < female [3] |
Route of transmission | Mostly vertical [32] | |
Tax mRNA (sense) | Low expression [21] | Low expression but higher than ACs [35] |
Tax protein | Undetectable in PBMCs but inducible in culture (in about 1/2 cases) [20] | Undetectable in PBMCs but inducible in culture [133] |
HBZ mRNA (anti-sense)b | Constitutively expressed [14] | Constitutively expressed [36] |
HBZ protein | Small amount in the nucleus [37] | Small amount in the cytoplasm [37] |
Tax-specific CTL response | Impaired [26] | Activated [24] |
Cytokines | Elevated IL-10 in the serum [41] | Elevated proinflammatory cytokines in the serum and CXCL10 in the CSF [38,39,40] |