Detection of the tax gene of HTLV-I in labial salivary glands from patients with Sjögren's syndrome and other diseases of the oral cavity

• Published in: Clinical and experimental rheumatology Vol. 18; no. 3; pp. 341 - 347
• Main Authors: MARIETTE, X, AGBALIKA, F, ZUCKER-FRANKLIN, D, CLERC, D, JANIN, A, CHEROT, P, BROUET, J.-C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pisa Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology 01.05.2000
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Antibodies, Viral - blood; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Blotting, Western; DNA, Viral - analysis; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Gene Products, tax - analysis; Gene Products, tax - genetics; Gene Products, tax - immunology; HTLV-I Infections - diagnosis; HTLV-I Infections - immunology; Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 - genetics; Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 - immunology; Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 - isolation & purification; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Molecular Sequence Data; Mouth Diseases - virology; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Salivary Glands, Minor - virology; Sarcoidosis. Granulomatous diseases of unproved etiology. Connective tissue diseases. Elastic tissue diseases. Vasculitis; Sjogren's Syndrome - virology; Human; Immunopathology; Stomatology; Antibody; Pathogenesis; Labial gland; Retroviridae; Autoimmune disease; Exploration; Salivary gland; Sjögren syndrome; Virus; Antigen; Polymerase chain reaction; Eye disease; Systemic disease; Molecular biology; HTLV-I virus; ELISA assay
• ISSN: 0392-856X; 1593-098X

To confirm a possible association between Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and the tax gene of human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I). We studied by PCR labial salivary glands (LSG) from 50 patients with definite SS and from 58 controls including 32 patients with LSG involved by other inflammatory processes and 26 normal LSG. Antibodies to HTLV-I and antibodies to the Tax protein were searched for in serum. We detected the tax gene of HTLV-I in LSG from 15/50 (30%) of patients with SS but also in specimens from 9/32 (28%) patients with LSG involved by other inflammatory processes (3/9 graft-versus-host disease, 5/19 extra-vasated cysts, 1/4 sarcoidosis) and from only 1/26 (4%) normal LSG. A 652 bp region, sequenced in 2 SS patients, was 98-98.5% homologous to the canonic sequence of tax HTLV-I. The HTLV-I gag, pol and env genes were never detected. The serum of the SS patients did not contain antibodies to HTLV-I. However, anti-Tax antibodies were detected in the serum of 18/25 (72%) SS patients, 10/10 (100%) patients positive for tax DNA in their LSG and 8/15 (53%) patients negative for tax DNA in their LSG. Our observations raise the possibility that a very low number of copies of the tax gene may be harbored innocuously in cells within the oral cavity in some healthy individuals, but that this gene may play a role as a co-factor in the development of SS or other diseases of oral cavity.