Mother-to-Child Transmission of HTLV-1 Epidemiological Aspects, Mechanisms and Determinants of Mother-to-Child Transmission

Florent Percher (1, 2) , Patricia Jeannin (1) , Sandra Martin-Latil (3) , Antoine Gessain (1) , Philippe Afonso (1) , Aurore Vidy-Roche (1, 2) , Pierre-Emmanuel Ceccaldi (1, 2)

1 EPVO (UMR_3569 / U-Pasteur_3) - Epidémiologie et Physiopathologie des Virus Oncogènes
2 Cellule Pasteur
3 Virus Entériques

Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a human retrovirus that infects at least 5–10 million people worldwide, and is the etiological agent of a lymphoproliferative malignancy; Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma (ATLL); and a chronic neuromyelopathy, HTLV-1 Associated Myelopathy/Tropical Spastic Paraparesis (HAM/TSP), as well as other inflammatory diseases such as infective dermatitis and uveitis. Besides sexual intercourse and intravenous transmission, HTLV-1 can also be transmitted from infected mother to child during prolonged breastfeeding. Some characteristics that are linked to mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HTLV-1, such as the role of proviral load, antibody titer of the infected mother, and duration of breastfeeding, have been elucidated; however, most of the mechanisms underlying HTLV-1 transmission during breast feeding remain largely unknown, such as the sites of infection and cellular targets as well as the role of milk factors. The present review focuses on the latest findings and current opinions and perspectives on MTCT of HTLV-1.

Keywords: HTLV-1; intestinal barrier; retrovirus; breastfeeding; human

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Virology

Florent Percher, Patricia Jeannin, Sandra Martin-Latil, Antoine Gessain, Philippe Afonso, et al.. Mother-to-Child Transmission of HTLV-1 Epidemiological Aspects, Mechanisms and Determinants of Mother-to-Child Transmission. Viruses, 2016, 8 (2), pp.1048-50. ⟨10.3390/v8020040⟩. ⟨pasteur-01380761⟩