HTLV-1 and HTLV-1-Associated Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

Human T-cell leukemia virus type-I (HTLV-1) is the retrovirus that causes adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM), which are a refractory hematologic malignancy and neuroinflammatory disease, respectively. HTLV-1 is endemic in southwestern Japan, Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, the Caribbean islands, and parts of the Middle East and Australo-Melanesia, and the number of HTLV-1 carriers worldwide was estimated to be about 10 million in 2012. However, there is no vaccine against HTLV-1 infection and no effective drugs for curing ATL and HAM. Among the array of viral factors and host T-cell signaling pathways, Tax and HBZ are known to play major roles in the leukemogenesis of HTLV-1-infected cells in ATL, but the precise mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of ATL and HAM remain to be fully elucidated in order to develop new molecular targeted agents. Eradicating HTLV-1 requires continued worldwide epidemiological surveys of the actual situation of HTLV-1 infections and infection prevention measures, especially for mother-to-child transmission. Moreover, the development of an HTLV-1 vaccine and the discovery of new diagnostic markers for ATL are essential.

This Special Issue will focus on the prevention of HTLV-1 infections, and the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of ATL and other HTLV-1-associated diseases.

Dr. Takuya Fukushima
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Viruses is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.