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CancerQuest > Introduction to Cancer Biology > Viruses and Cancer > Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus 1 (HTLV-1)

Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus 1 (HTLV-1)

Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus 1 (HTLV-1)^{(1) (2)}

Associated Cancer: Adult T-cell Leukemia (ATLL)
Prevalence: Approximately 10 to 20 million people are infected worldwide. HTLV-1 is endemic in southwest Japan, in and around the Caribbean islands, in parts of Central Africa and South America.
Transmission: HTLV1 can be transmitted via sexual or blood-blood contact. It can also be passed through breast milk and from mother to fetus.
Infection: HTLV-1 is an RNA virus (a retrovirus) that can infect T-cells, B-lymphocytes, monocytes, and fibroblasts.
Carcinogenic Potential: About 3-5% of people with HTLV1 will develop adult T-cell leukemia, with most cases occurring in middle aged people. At least one of HTLV1's regulatory proteins, (Tax), is thought to be involved with ATLL development. Tax may contribute to carcinogenesis by inducing cellular proliferation, activating cell survival proteins, and also may contribute to chromosomal instability.⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾

Several other retroviruses are also associated with cancer and the use of retroviral vectors in cancer treatment has to take into consideration the possibility that the treatments could cause major problems.⁽⁵⁾⁽⁶⁾

References for this page:

1. E. Boccardo and LL Villa. Viral Origins of Human Cancer. Current Medicinal Chemistry. 2007; 24: 2526-39. [PUBMED]
2. Masao Matsuoka and Kuan-Teh Jeang. Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type I at Age 25: A Progress Report. Cancer Research. 2005; 65(11):4467-70. [PUBMED]
3. Boxus M, Willems L. Mechanisms of HTLV-1 persistence and transformation. Br J Cancer. 2009 Nov 3;101(9):1497-501. Epub 2009 Sep 29. [PUBMED]
4. Chlichlia K, Khazaie K. HTLV-1 Tax: Linking transformation, DNA damage and apoptotic T-cell death. Chem Biol Interact. 2010 Nov 5;188(2):359-65. Epub 2010 Jun 15. [PUBMED]
5. Nair V. Retrovirus-induced oncogenesis and safety of retroviral vectors. Curr Opin Mol Ther. 2008 Oct;10(5):431-8. [PUBMED]
6. Ruprecht K, Mayer J, Sauter M, Roemer K, Mueller-Lantzsch N. Endogenous retroviruses and cancer. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2008 Nov;65(21):3366-82. [PUBMED]