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Incidence of antibody to HTLV-I is not increased in Japanese MS patients

Department of Internal Medicine (Drs. Kuroda and Shibasaki), Saga Medical School, Saga, and Clinical Laboratory and Blood Transfusion Service (Drs. Sato and Okochi). Kyushu University Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan.

To examine the association between MS and anti-human T-cell lymphotropic virus-I (HTLV-I) antibody, we studied serum and CSF antibody to HTLV-I in 27 Japanese MS patients by an indirect immunofluorescence method sensitive and specific enough to detect carriers of HTLV-I. The antibody was detected in 3 of 27 MS patients (11.1%), in 4 of 48 patients (8.3%) with other neurologic diseases, and in 8.3% of 2,500 healthy blood donors. There was no significant difference in the incidence between the three groups. The titer of the antibody was low in CSF when compared with that in serum in all seropositive MS patients. Fluctuations in the CSF antibody titer were not observed in any of 14 MS patients sampled repeatedly.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Kuroda, Department of Internal Medicine, Saga Medical School, Saga, 840-01, Japan.

Supported by a grant from The Immunoneurological Disease Research Committee (Chairman: Prof A. Igata). Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan.

Received March 5, 1986. Accepted for publication April 16, 1986.