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Differences in viral and host genetic risk factors for development of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1)-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis between Iranian and Japanese HTLV-1-infected individuals

¹ Department of Neurology and Geriatrics, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 8-35-1 Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan
² Department of Medical Information Science, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 8-35-1 Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan
³ Department of Immunology and Immunology Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
⁴ Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
⁵ Khorasan Blood Transfusion Center, Mashhad, Iran
⁶ Department of Molecular Pathology, Center for Chronic Viral Diseases, Kagoshima University, 8-35-1 Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan

Correspondence
Mineki Saito
mineki{at}m3.kufm.kagoshima-u.ac.jp

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1)-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) is a neurological disease observed only in 1–2 % of infected individuals. HTLV-1 provirus load, certain HLA alleles and HTLV-1 tax subgroups are reported to be associated with different levels of risk for HAM/TSP in Kagoshima, Japan. Here, it was determined whether these risk factors were also valid for HTLV-1-infected individuals in Mashhad in northeastern Iran, another region of endemic HTLV-1 infection. In Iranian HTLV-1-infected individuals (n=132, 58 HAM/TSP patients and 74 seropositive asymptomatic carriers), although HLA-DRB1*0101 was associated with disease susceptibility in the absence of HLA-A*02 (P=0·038; odds ratio=2·71) as observed in Kagoshima, HLA-A*02 and HLA-Cw*08 had no effect on either the risk of developing HAM/TSP or HTLV-1 provirus load. All Iranian subjects possessed tax subgroup A sequences, and the protective effects of HLA-A*02 were observed only in Kagoshima subjects with tax subgroup B but not in those with tax subgroup A. Both the prevalence of HTLV-1 subgroups and the host genetic background may explain the different risks levels for HAM/TSP development in these two populations.