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The presence of ancient human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I provirus DNA in an Andean mummy

Nature Medicine volume 5, pages 1428–1432 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

The worldwide geographic and ethnic clustering of patients with diseases related to human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) may be explained by the natural history of HTLV-I infection1,2. The genetic characteristics of indigenous people in the Andes are similar to those of the Japanese3,4, and HTLV-I is generally detected in both groups5. To clarify the common origin of HTLV-I in Asia and the Andes, we analyzed HTLV-I provirus DNA from Andean mummies about 1,500 years old. Two of 104 mummy bone marrow specimens yielded a band of human β-globin gene DNA 110 base pairs in length, and one of these two produced bands of HTLV-I-pX (open reading frame encoding p40x, p27x) and HTLV-I-LTR (long terminal repeat) gene DNA 159 base pairs and 157 base pairs in length, respectively. The nucleotide sequences of ancient HTLV-I-pX and HTLV-I-LTR clones isolated from mummy bone marrow were similar to those in contemporary Andeans and Japanese, although there was microheterogeneity in the sequences of some mummy DNA clones. This result provides evidence that HTLV-I was carried with ancient Mongoloids to the Andes before the Colonial era. Analysis of ancient HTLV-I sequences could be a useful tool for studying the history of human retroviral infection as well as human prehistoric migration.

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Figure 1: Map of northern Chile, showing locations of study fields from which mummy bones and blood samples of contemporary Andean people were collected (boxed area, right, enlarged at left).
Figure 2: PCR amplification.
Figure 3: Nucleotide sequences of PCR-amplified β-globin DNA.
Figure 4: Nucleotide sequences of PCR-amplified HTLV-I-pX DNA.
Figure 5: Nucleotide sequences of PCR-amplified HTLV-I-LTR DNA.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Grants-in-Aid from the Mombusho International Scientific Research Program and a Research Grant from the Princess Takamatsu Cancer Research Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Virology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, 8-35-1 Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima, 890-8520, Japan

    Hong-Chuan Li, Toshinobu Fujiyoshi, Hong Lou, Shinji Yashiki & Shunro Sonoda

  2. Department of Clinical Neurology, Chile University, Santiago, Chile

    Luis Cartier

  3. Department of Archeology, North Catholic University San Pedro de Atacama, Region II, Chile

    Lautaro Nunez

  4. Department of Archeology, Tarapaca University, Arica, Region I, Chile

    Ivan Munoz

  5. Department of Biosystems Sciences, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Hayamacho, 240-0193, Miura-gun, Japan

    Satoshi Horai

  6. Division of Epidemiology, Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute, Kanokoden, Chikusa-Ku, 464-8681 , Nagoya, Japan

    Kazuo Tajima

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  1. Hong-Chuan Li
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  2. Toshinobu Fujiyoshi
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Correspondence to Kazuo Tajima.

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Li, HC., Fujiyoshi, T., Lou, H. et al. The presence of ancient human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I provirus DNA in an Andean mummy. Nat Med 5, 1428–1432 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/71006

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