[Difference of antibody profile for human T-lymphotropic virus type-I (HTLV-I) among individuals].

: Healthy carriers, patients with ATL and HTLV-I associated myelopathy (HAM) were examined for HTLV-I antibodies of IgG and IgM classes and anti-p 40x antibodies, using ELISA, western blot (WB) and particle agglutination (PA) techniques. IgG antibodies were almost always detectable in sera from all of patients with ATL and HAM and healthy carriers with high titer in the PA test (normal carriers), and the average value of OD 405 was 2.0 +/- 0.3, 1.6 +/- 0.6 and 1.3 +/- 0.7, respectively. In anti-p 40x antibodies, the detectable incidence of HAM, ATL, normal carriers and carriers with low titer of the PA (low-PA group) was 90%, 67%, 44%, and 3%; and, the average value of OD 405 of the antibodies was 2.3 +/- 1.0, 0.7 +/- 0.5, and 0.7 +/- 0.7, respectively. On the other hand, the incidence of IgM antibodies demonstrated in HAM, ATL, normal carriers and low-PA group was 90%, 41%, 33%, and 53%, respectively. Furthermore, the follow-up observation of these antibodies revealed that the antibody profile of individuals for a long time was constant, i.e. in each carrier the value with high OD remained high and the presence of anti-p 40x and/or IgM antibodies remained present. These data has demonstrated that there are considerably differences among individuals in responsivilities for HTLV-I. Then, the antibody profile is mainly classified into 3 groups; hyper-, common- and hypo-immune patterns.