Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus (HTLV) Infection and Treatment: 2nd Edition
A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Human Virology and Viral Diseases".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 5771
Special Issue Editors
Interests: retrovirology; HTLV; animal models; immunology; molecular virology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
2. Global Virus Network Center of Excellence, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
Interests: immunology; viral infectious diseases; bacterial and parasitic infections; emerging infections; hepatitis; HIV
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We invite you to contribute original research and/or review to this Special Issue of Viruses that will highlight advances in HTLV-1 research.
The first human retrovirus human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) was identified in 1980. As a retrovirus, HTLV-1 integrates into the host genome and causes a persistent lifelong infection. Although the majority of infected individuals remain asymptomatic, a fraction of patients will progress to develop one of several severe diseases. HTLV-1 causes an aggressive fatal malignancy known as adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL), the neurodegenerative disease HTLV-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), HTLV-1 associated uveitis, infectious dermatitis and inflammatory conditions such as respiratory disease, Sjögren’s syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia and ulcerative colitis. In addition, HTLV-1 infection is associated with a higher mortality and morbidity. Thus far, no specific differences in viral strains have been identified to account for the differences in disease manifestation. Although a high viral DNA burden in peripheral blood mononuclear cells is a documented risk factor for ATLL and HAM/TSP, and HAM/TSP patients have a higher proviral load in cerebrospinal fluid than in peripheral blood, the virus level alone is not sufficient to differentiate symptomatic patients from healthy carriers, suggesting the importance of other factors, including the host immune response.
While many high-income countries have initiated HTLV-1 screening for blood donations, few other public health measures have been employed to prevent infection or manage/treat ATLL and HAM/TSP. Further, it is difficult to evaluate the public health burden because of the major gaps in the epidemiology of HTLV-1 infection. Even in areas of high prevalence, the awareness of HTLV-1 modes of transmission, disease course and strategies for clinical management are not readily available. Despite the profound impact HTLV-1 has on patient lives, minimal significant progress has been made in developing HTLV-1 vaccines or therapies for these diseases, with the prognosis for ATLL still being poor and HAM/TSP remaining an intractable disease.
Despite being investigated for over 40 years, many fundamental questions in HTLV-1 pathogenesis remain unresolved. In this Special Issue, we will focus on the most recent advances in understanding the mechanism of HTLV infection, with an emphasis on treatment and diagnosis. We will also focus on new developments in biomarkers, prevention, animal models and disease pathogenesis.
Dr. Cynthia A. Pise-Masison
Dr. Damian F. J. Purcell
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- HTLV
- HTLV-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis
- adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma
- inflammation
- neurodegeneration
- therapeutics
- infectious dermatitis
- cancer
- antiviral drugs
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Related Special Issue
- Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus (HTLV) Infection and Treatment in Viruses (5 articles)
