Abstract
Retroviruses isolated from avian, feline, murine and simian sources have been found to be inactivated and lysed by normal human serum1–3. There is much evidence that complement is activated directly by retroviruses in the absence of antibody4–7. Thus, human complement is thought to function as a natural defence mechanism against horizontal infection by retroviruses. Recently, a novel retrovirus, human T-cell leukaemia virus (HTLV), has been shown to be associated with adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma(ATL)8–16. A large number of healthy adults in south-west Japan12,17, the West Indies18,19 and Africa20,21 carry antibodies against HTLV and these seropositive individuals are considered to be carriers of HTLV22–24. Thus, horizontal spread of HTLV occurs frequently among humans. We set out to determine whether HTLV reacts with human complement, and report here that, unlike other animal retroviruses, HTLV is not lysed by normal human serum—this might explain the infectivity and persistence of HTLV in humans.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Welsh, R. M. Jr, Cooper, N. R., Jensen, F. C. & Oldstone, M. B. A. Nature 257, 612–614 (1975).
Cooper, N. R. Compreh. Virol. 15, 123–170 (1979).
Weiss, R. in Molecular Biology of Tumor Viruses, RNA Tumor Viruses (eds Weiss, R., Teich, N., Varmus, H. & Coffin, J.) 1205–1281 (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, 1982).
Welsh, R. M. Jr, Cooper, N. R., Jensen, F. C. & Oldstone, M. B. A. Virology 74, 432–440 (1976).
Bartholomew, R. M., Esser, A. F. & Muller-Eberhard, H. J. J. exp. Med. 147, 844–853 (1978).
Cooper, N. R., Jensen, F. C., Welsh, R. M. Jr & Oldstone, M. B. A. J. exp. Med. 144, 970–984 (1976).
Sherwin, S. A., Benveniste, R. E. & Todaro, G. J. Int. J. Cancer 21, 6–11 (1978).
Poiesz, B. J. et al. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77, 7415–7419 (1980).
Poiesz, B. J., Ruscetti, F. W., Reitz, M. S., Kalyanaraman, V. S. & Gallo, R. C. Nature 294, 268–271 (1981).
Blattner, W. A., Takatsuki, K. & Gallo, R. C. J. Am. med. Ass. 26, 1074–1080 (1983).
Yoshida, M. Gann 74, 777–789 (1983).
Hinuma, Y. et al. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 78, 6476–6480 (1981).
Miyoshi, I. et al. Nature 294, 770–771 (1981).
Yoshida, M., Miyoshi, I. & Hinuma, Y. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 79, 2031–2035 (1982).
Popovic, M. et al. Science 219, 851–859 (1983).
Hoshino, H. et al. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 80, 6061–6065 (1983).
Hinuma, Y. et al. Int. J. Cancer 29, 631–635 (1982).
Blattner, W. A. et al. Int. J. Cancer 30, 257–264 (1982).
Blattner, W. A. et al. Lancet ii, 61–64 (1983).
Hunsmann, G., Schneider, J., Schmitt, J. & Yamamoto, N. Int. J. Cancer 32, 329–332 (1983).
Flemming, A. F. et al. Lancet ii, 334–335 (1983).
Miyoshi, I. et al. Gann 73, 339–340 (1982).
Gotoh, Y., Suganuma, K. & Hinuma, Y. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 79, 4780–4782 (1982).
Sarin, P. S. et al. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 80, 2370–2374 (1983).
Cikes, M., Friberg, S. & Klein, G. J. natn. Cancer Inst. 50, 347–362 (1973).
Van der Maaten, M. J. & Miller, J. M. Biblthca haemat. 43, 360–362 (1976).
Oroszlan, S. et al. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 79, 1291–1294 (1982).
Okada, H., Tanaka, H. & Okada, N. Eur. J. Immun. 13, 340–344 (1983).
Okada, H. & Tanaka, H. Molec. Immun. 20, 1233–1236 (1983).
Clapham, P., Nagy, K. & Weiss, R. A. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 81, 2886–2889 (1984).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hoshino, H., Tanaka, H., Miwa, M. et al. Human T-cell leukaemia virus is not lysed by human serum. Nature 310, 324–325 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/310324a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/310324a0
This article is cited by
-
Human serum-resistant retroviral vector particles from galactosyl (α1–3) galactosyl containing nonprimate cell lines
Gene Therapy (1999)
-
Role of complement and antibodies in the control and facilitation of HIV disease
Pathology & Oncology Research (1997)
-
Sensitization of cells and retroviruses to human serum by (αl-3) galactosyltransferase
Nature (1996)
-
Complement-related proteins in pathogenic organisms
Springer Seminars in Immunopathology (1994)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
