Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0023418 (leukemia)
 93,477 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

From our past clinical observations, we have identified a cluster of cases with distinct neurological manifestations and, together with our viral studies, it has been proven that in fact these cases belong to a new clinical entity. The association of this slowly progressive spastic paraparesis with human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) enabled us to designate this clinical entity as HTLV-I-associated myelopathy or HAM. Later studies showed that 1) the geographical distribution of HAM follows that of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) and 2) viruses detected in both disorders were identical by DNA blotting assay, but HAM and ATL are definitely expressed clinically as distinct from the other. In this regard, human leukocyte antigen (HLA) studies and the pattern of immune responsiveness seem to show a clear segregation of one from the other. As many initially studied cases have responded favorably to corticosteroids and had frequent perivascular cuffing in the spinal cord of a necropsied case, it is likely that, in part, immune events play a role in the pathogenesis. Our efforts are now directed to determining whether a) HAM is purely an autoimmune process, or b) a slow virus infection with a long incubation period may be the culprit.
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PMID:HTLV-I-associated myelopathy: an overview. 333 93

The slow virus infection (SVI) established by Gajdusek DC in 1964 has been known to involve not only Kuru or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease but also hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and very recently human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. These all viruses potentially develop serious, irreversible disease, ie, hepatoma or adult T-cell leukemia, after long latent periods. HBV, HTLV-1 and HCV can be transmitted vertically from carrier mothers to their offspring, and therefore, are serious SVIs in the field of obstetrics. HB immunoglobulin (HBIG) and HB vaccine have been used clinically for the prevention of HBV vertical transmission (VT) under the guidance of the Ministry of Public Welfare in Japan. This nation-wide trial has much contributed to reducing the development of new carriers. However, the protocol recommended by the Ministry is a bit noncost-effective and troublesome for the patients and physicians. To solve the problem we newly designed our own regimen based on the natural history of HBV VT, the neonatal immune response to the recombinant vaccine and cost-effectiveness, and compared it with the Ministry one. It is not doubt that breast feeding is the most important route for HTLV-1 VT. However, other infectious routes, ie, intrauterine or transvaginal infection, have been recently worth noticing.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[Slow virus infection in the field of obstetrics and gynecology--with special reference to HBV, HTLV-1 and HCV]. 837 Oct 12