Quantification of proviral load in groups with different results for the HTLV-1

• Grant number: 13/03086-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2013
• End date: December 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Immunology
• Principal Investigator: Sabri Saeed Mohammed Ahmed Al-Sanabani
• Grantee: Jaqueline Tomoko Watanabe
• Host Institution: Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo (IMT). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

HTLV-1 is etiologically associated with various disorders including adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) and HTLV-I Associated Myelopathy/Tropical Spastic Paraparesis (HAM/TSP). The proviral load is an important biological marker for understanding the pathogenesis of the virus and for shedding light on whether or not the virus is correlated to disease progression. In this project, we aimed to quantify the HTLV-1 proviral load in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 250 asymptomatic HTLV-1 carriers, 10 with HTLV-I HAM-TSP, and 7 patients with ATL. The levels of the proviral load will be determined by a real-time PCR. The results of this study will allow us to classify the asymptomatic carriers into low, intermediate, and high proviral load groups. These results are expected to pave the way for the main project that aims to study the regulatory role of miRNAs in individuals with and without symptoms of HTLV-1, asymptomatic carriers with low and high proviral load with or without T cells expansions. (AU)