HTLV-I env protein acts as a major antigen in patients with HTLV-I-associated arthropathy

Our objective was to investigate the pathological mechanisms of HTLV-I (human T-cell leukemia virus type I)-associated chronic arthritis (HAAP) with respect to T-cell response to HTLV-I viral proteins. We examined T-cell clonality and the antigen recognized by T cells from the inflamed synovium of patients with HAAP by using histology, a single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis and T cell receptor (TCR) sequencing. The SSCP analysis showed oligoclonal expansion of T cells in the synovium, suggesting an antigen-mediated stimulation. In contrast, there was less clonal expansion in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL). The expression of HTLV-1 env and tax mRNA was detected in the affected synovium as well as in PBL. A number of T-cell clones in the synovium recognized HTLV-I env and tax proteins. Twenty-seven (24.9%) of 109 examined T-cell clones in the joints were HTLV-I env reactive, and 7 clones (6.4%) were HTLV-I tax reactive. Junctional sequence analysis of synovial T cells showed a lack of highly conserved amino acid motifs in the complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3) of HTLV-I env and tax reactive T cells, suggesting that these cells recognized multiple T-cell epitopes on HTLV-I antigen. These findings suggest that HTLV-I env protein acts as a major antigen and may play a role in the development of arthropathy in patients with HAAP.