Patterns of serum type 1 and type 2 immune markers in healthy carriers of HTLV-I

Type 1 immunity appears to be diminished in healthy Japanese carriers of human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I), but type 2 status remains undetermined. To further examine the subclinical effect of HTLV-I on host immunity, we measured serum antibodies to the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in 415 healthy Japanese adults to broadly characterize type 1 status. Levels of the type 2 biomarkers total immunoglobulin E (IgE), soluble CD23 (sCD23), and soluble CD30 (sCD30) were assessed in 167, 142, and 135 of these subjects, respectively. We analyzed the association of HTLV-I with levels of each serum marker using linear and logistic regression. Altered EBV antibody profiles that are consistent with deficient type 1 immunity were more prevalent in HTLV-I carriers than non-carriers (odds ratio (OR) = 2.8, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.5-5.3). Carriers also had 45% lower total IgE levels (P = 0.04) than non-carriers. In contrast, HTLV-I infection was not significantly associated with elevated levels of sCD23 or sCD30. These observations are contrary to our expectation of elevated type 2 biomarkers among carriers. We conclude that in this population, healthy carriers of HTLV-I may have subclinical deficiencies in both type 1 and type 2 immunity, and that type 1 and type 2 immunity are not necessarily reciprocal in persons with subclinical immune dysregulation.