Adult T-Cell Leukemia/Lymphoma in a Caucasian Patient After Sexual Transmission of Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type 1.

David Sibon (1, 2) , Olivier Cassar (3) , Isabelle Duga (4) , Chantal Brouzes (2) , David Ghez (5) , Christophe Pasquier (4) , Claire Sibon (6) , Alexandra Desrames (3) , Franck Mortreux (7) , Eric Wattel (7) , Ali Bazarbachi (8) , Antoine Gessain (3) , Olivier Hermine (2, 1)

1 IMAGINE - U1163 - Imagine - Institut des maladies génétiques
2 ERL 8254 - Equipe Inserm U1163 - Laboratory of molecular mechanisms of hematologic disorders and therapeutic implications
3 EPVO (UMR_3569 / U-Pasteur_3) - Epidémiologie et Physiopathologie des Virus Oncogènes
4 CHU Toulouse - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse
5 Hématologie
6 Hôpital Ambroise Paré [AP-HP]
7 LBMC UMR 5239 - Laboratoire de biologie et modélisation de la cellule
8 AUB - American University of Beirut [Beyrouth]

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL), a T-cell neoplasm caused by human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1), develops in the majority of cases in individuals who were infected with HTLV-1 as young children, by their mother during prolonged breastfeeding. We report the case of a Caucasian French man, whose parents were HTLV-1-seronegative and who developed ATLL after HTLV-1 sexual transmission by a Cameroonian woman. This hypothesis was corroborated by genotyping of the patient's virus, which revealed an HTLV-1B strain, found only in Central Africa, especially in Cameroon. Thus, ATLL may develop after HTLV-1 infection during adulthood, outside breastfeeding.

Keywords: ATLL; HTLV-1; HTLV-1 transmission; lymphoma; viral genotyping

Domains: Cellular Biology

David Sibon, Olivier Cassar, Isabelle Duga, Chantal Brouzes, David Ghez, et al.. Adult T-Cell Leukemia/Lymphoma in a Caucasian Patient After Sexual Transmission of Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type 1.. Open Forum Infectious Diseases, 2015, 2 (2), pp.ofv032. ⟨10.1093/ofid/ofv032⟩. ⟨pasteur-01370931⟩