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Blood, 8 October 2009, Vol. 114, No. 15, pp. 3208-3215. Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on August 7, 2009; DOI 10.1182/blood-2009-02-203042. This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Figures All Versions of this Article: blood-2009-02-203042v1 114/15/3208    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Rights and Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Google Scholar Articles by Azakami, K. Articles by Yamano, Y. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Azakami, K. Articles by Yamano, Y. Related Collections Immunobiology Lymphoid Neoplasia Social Bookmarking                   What's this?  Previous Article  |  Table of Contents  |  Next Article  IMMUNOBIOLOGY Severe loss of invariant NKT cells exhibiting anti–HTLV-1 activity in patients with HTLV-1–associated disorders Kazuko Azakami1,2,*, Tomoo Sato1,*, Natsumi Araya1, Atae Utsunomiya3, Ryuji Kubota4, Kenshi Suzuki5, Daisuke Hasegawa1, Toshihiko Izumi1, Hidetoshi Fujita1, Satoko Aratani1, Ryoji Fujii1, Naoko Yagishita1, Hajime Kamijuku6, Takuro Kanekura2, Ken-ichiro Seino6, Kusuki Nishioka1, Toshihiro Nakajima7, and Yoshihisa Yamano1 1 Department of Molecular Medical Science, Institute of Medical Science, St Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki; 2 Department of Dermatology, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima; 3 Department of Hematology, Imamura Bun-in Hospital, Kagoshima; 4 Center for Chronic Viral Diseases, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima; 5 Department of Hematology, Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, Tokyo; 6 Division of Bioregulation Research, Institute of Medical Science, St Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki; and 7 St Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki, Choju Medical Institute, Fukushimura Hospital, Toyohasi, and Misato Marine Hospital, Kochi, Japan Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are unique T cells that regulate the immune response to microbes, cancers, and autoimmunity. We assessed the characteristics of iNKT cells from persons infected with human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1). Whereas most infected persons remain asymptomatic carriers (ACs) throughout their lives, a small proportion, usually with high equilibrium proviral loads,develop 2 diseases: HTLV-1–associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) and adult T-cell leukemia (ATL). We demonstrated that the frequency of iNKT, NK, and dendritic cells in the peripheral blood of HAM/TSP and ATL patients is decreased. We also observed an inverse correlation between the iNKT cell frequency and the HTLV-1 proviral load in the peripheral blood of infected persons. Notably, in vitro stimulation of peripheral blood cells with -galactosylceramide led to an increase in the iNKT cell number and a subsequent decrease in the HTLV-1–infected T-cell number in samples from ACs but not HAM/TSP or ATL patients. Our results suggest that iNKT cells contribute to the immune defense against HTLV-1, and iNKT-cell depletion plays an important role in the pathogenesis of HAM/TSP and ATL. Therefore, iNKT cell–based immunotherapy may be an effective strategy for preventing these HTLV-1–associated disorders. CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

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