| Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-I) is endemic for several areas of the world including central Africa, the southwestern islands of Japan, the Caribbean basin, and the southeastern United States. HTLV-I is etiologically associated with adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) based on several lines of evidence, including epidemiologic clustering of ATL in geographic regions endemic for HTLV-I infection, the high frequency of antiviral antibodies in the sera of ATL patients, detection of monoclonally-integrated provirus in the leukemic cells of ATL patients, and isolation of infectious virus from leukemic cell cultures. HTLV-I-induced leukemogenesis is postulated to result from a two-hit mechanism. Proviral DNA randomly integrates into the genome of a susceptible CD4... |
