Gene expression profiling of

The HTLV-1 infection persists for life, remaining as asymptomatic viral reservoirs in most patients, ensuring the chain of transmission, but around 4% develop adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL). HTLV-1 is an oncogenic retrovirus that transforms CD4 We conducted this study on the prevalence of HTLV-1 infection in blood donors to expand the HTLV-1 database, assess the risk of transmission via blood products, as well as evaluate the risk of persistent infection or development of neoplastic diseases in HTLV-1 carriers. This is a cross-sectional study of blood donors of all categories. For this study, 265 blood donors were recruited at the Centre National de Transfusion Sanguine in Brazzaville. After testing for HTLV-1 antibodies by ELISA, proviral DNA was extracted from all ELISA-positive samples for detection by nested PCR, followed by RT qPCR using specific primers p53 and c-myc for gene expression. 20/265 were positive for anti-HTLV-1 antibody, 5 donors were positive for proviral DNA. The prevalence of HTLV-1 was 1.8%. All HTLV-1-positive donors were male (1.8%), with a positive correlation ( The prevalence, though low, remains a serious problem. No abnormal Введение. Инфекция HTLV-1 сохраняется в течение всей жизни человека, обусловливая бессимптомное вирусное носительство у большинства пациентов и обеспечивая цепь передачи. Однако примерно у 4% инфицированных развивается Т-клеточная лейкемия/лимфома взрослых (ATLL). HTLV-1 – это онкоретровирус, который трансформирует CD4