Molecular epidemiology of HTLV type I in Japan: evidence for two distinct ancestral lineages with a particular geographical distribution.

Japan is one of the highest endemic areas of the world for human T cell leukemia-lymphoma virus type I (HTLV-I). To gain new insight as to the origin of this virus in Japan and especially in the southern islands of the archipelago, we investigated the long terminal repeat (LTR) of 67 newly isolated HTLV-I proviral DNAs from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of HTLV-I-infected individuals for their restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). The specimens were from Japanese living in different geographical areas (Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, or the Ryukyu Islands) of Japan (59 cases) or Americans of Japanese ancestry living in Hawaii (8 cases). The analysis of the results, together with data for the 19 previously published LTR sequences, demonstrated the existence of 2 subtypes of HTLV-I in Japan. The first, which we propose to name Japanese subtype (previously named subtype III), is more frequent (67 of 86: 78%) than the second, the cosmopolitan subtype (previously named subtype II) (19 of 86: 22%). In parallel, a fragment of 413 base pairs of the U3/R region (nucleotide 22 to 434) was cloned and sequenced from 10 of the new Japanese samples. The alignment of these sequences and their comparison and phylogenetic analysis with previously published LTR HTLV-I sequences, demonstrated clearly the existence of the two distinct molecular subtypes of HTLV-I in Japan, diverging in this LTR region by about 1.6%. Furthermore, the study of the geographical distribution of the 2 subtypes among the 80 samples from patients whose place of residence in Japan was known showed an uneven distribution. While the Japanese subtype was present in all parts of Japan, the cosmopolitan subtype seemed to cluster in the southern islands of the archipelago (i.e., Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands) as well as in immigrants from those areas who had lived in Hawaii for decades. These new molecular data raise questions and suggest hypotheses, discussed here, concerning the origin and means of dissemination of these human retrovirus subtypes in Japan.

[1]  K. Hashimoto,et al.  Phylogenetic subtypes of human T-lymphotropic virus type I and their relations to the anthropological background. , 1994, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[2]  M. Chandy,et al.  Sequence analysis of human T cell lymphotropic virus type I strains from southern India: gene amplification and direct sequencing from whole blood blotted onto filter paper. , 1993, The Journal of general virology.

[3]  M. Yoshida,et al.  Limited sequence divergence of HTLV-I of Indian HAM/TSP patients from a prototype Japanese isolate. , 1993, AIDS research and human retroviruses.

[4]  R. Gallo,et al.  Complete nucleotide sequence of a highly divergent human T-cell leukemia (lymphotropic) virus type I (HTLV-I) variant from melanesia: genetic and phylogenetic relationship to HTLV-I strains from other geographical regions , 1993, Journal of virology.

[5]  M. Sherman,et al.  LTR sequence and phylogenetic analyses of a newly discovered variant of HTLV-I isolated from the Hagahai of Papua New Guinea. , 1992, Virology.

[6]  G. de Thé,et al.  Geographical subtypes demonstrated by RFLP following PCR in the LTR region of HTLV-I. , 1992, AIDS research and human retroviruses.

[7]  L. Ratner,et al.  Nucleotide sequence analysis of isolates of human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 of diverse geographical origins. , 1991, AIDS research and human retroviruses.

[8]  G. de Thé,et al.  In vivo genomic variability of human T-cell leukemia virus type I depends more upon geography than upon pathologies , 1991, Journal of virology.

[9]  D. Armstrong,et al.  A seroepidemiological survey of HTLV-I infection in Shanghai and Chongqing cities in China. , 1991, AIDS.

[10]  W. Blattner,et al.  The epidemiology of the human T‐cell lymphotrophic virus type I and type II: etiologic role in human disease , 1991, Transfusion.

[11]  S. Nagataki,et al.  Retrovirus from human T-cell leukemia virus type I-associated myelopathy is the same strain as a prototype human T-cell leukemia virus type I. , 1990, Archives of neurology.

[12]  A. Haase,et al.  Nucleotide sequence analysis of a provirus derived from an individual with tropical spastic paraparesis. , 1990, Microbial pathogenesis.

[13]  C. J. Chen,et al.  Seroepidemiology of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I infection in Taiwan. , 1988, Cancer research.

[14]  A. Karpas,et al.  Molecular cloning and complete nucleotide sequence of an adult T cell leukaemia virus/human T cell leukaemia virus type I (ATLV/HTLV-I) isolate of Caribbean origin: relationship to other members of the ATLV/HTLV-I subgroup. , 1988, The Journal of general virology.

[15]  N. Saitou,et al.  The neighbor-joining method: a new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. , 1987, Molecular biology and evolution.

[16]  Y. Hinuma,et al.  The origin of Japanese HTLV-I , 1986, Nature.

[17]  R. Gallo,et al.  Origins of human T-lymphotropic viruses , 1986, Nature.

[18]  T. Ishida,et al.  Prevalence of a human retrovirus in native Japanese: evidence for a possible ancient origin. , 1985, The Journal of infection.

[19]  T. Gojobori,et al.  Complete nucleotide sequence of an infectious clone of human T-cell leukemia virus type II: an open reading frame for the protease gene. , 1985, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[20]  J. Sodroski,et al.  Long terminal repeat structure of an American isolate of type I human T-cell leukemia virus. , 1984, Virology.

[21]  S. Hino,et al.  HTLV AND THE PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY IN NAGASAKI , 1984, The Lancet.

[22]  K. Miyamoto,et al.  Prevalence of possible adult t‐cell leukemia virus‐carriers among volunteer blood donors in Japan: A nation‐wide study , 1984, International journal of cancer.

[23]  A. Fleming.  HTLV FROM AFRICA TO JAPAN , 1984, The Lancet.

[24]  M. Yoshida,et al.  Human adult T-cell leukemia virus: complete nucleotide sequence of the provirus genome integrated in leukemia cell DNA. , 1983, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[25]  M. Yoshida,et al.  Human adult T-cell leukemia virus: molecular cloning of the provirus DNA and the unique terminal structure. , 1982, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[26]  John D. Minna,et al.  Detection and isolation of type C retrovirus particles from fresh and cultured lymphocytes of a patient with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma , 1980, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[27]  F. Sanger,et al.  DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. , 1977, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[28]  T. Ishida,et al.  A seroepidemiological study of HTLV-1 infection in Nepal. , 1992, Scandinavian journal of infectious diseases.

[29]  H. Taguchi.  Origin of HTLV-I virus in Japan , 1986, Nature.

[30]  I. Pan,et al.  Seroepidemiology of adult T-cell leukemia virus in Taiwan. , 1985, Japanese journal of cancer research : Gann.

[31]  K. Tajima,et al.  Epidemiology of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma in Japan. , 1985, Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology.