Immunological profile of HTLV-1-infected patients associated with infectious or autoimmune dermatological disorders.

• Published in: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Main Authors: Jordana Grazziela Alves Coelho-dos-Reis, Livia Passos, Mariana Costa Duarte, Marcelo Grossi Araújo, Ana Carolina Campi-Azevedo, Andréa Teixeira-Carvalho, Vanessa Peruhype-Magalhães, Bruno Caetano Trindade, Raquel Dos Santos Dias, Marina Lobato Martins, Anna Barbara de Freitas Carneiro-Proietti, Antônio Carlos Guedes, Denise Utsch Gonçalves, Olindo Assis Martins-Filho
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002328; https://doaj.org/article/03a983ed44d847b689d2aa3823549486

In the present study, the frequency, the activation and the cytokine and chemokine profile of HTLV-1 carriers with or without dermatological lesions were thoroughly described and compared. The results indicated that HTLV-1-infected patients with dermatological lesions have distinct frequency and activation status when compared to asymptomatic carriers. Alterations in the CD4(+)HLA-DR(+), CD8(+) T cell, macrophage-like and NKT subsets as well as in the serum chemokines CCL5, CXCL8, CXCL9 and CXCL10 were observed in the HTLV-1-infected group with skin lesions. Additionally, HTLV-1 carriers with dermatological skin lesions showed more frequently high proviral load as compared to asymptomatic carriers. The elevated proviral load in HTLV-1 patients with infectious skin lesions correlated significantly with TNF-α/IL-10 ratio, while the same significant correlation was found for the IL-12/IL-10 ratio and the high proviral load in HTLV-1-infected patients with autoimmune skin lesions. All in all, these results suggest a distinct and unique immunological profile in the peripheral blood of HTLV-1-infected patients with skin disorders, and the different nature of skin lesion observed in these patients may be an outcome of a distinct unbalance of the systemic inflammatory response upon HTLV-1 infection.