Seroprevalence of HTLV-1 among kidney graft recipients: a single-center study

Renal transplant recipients are susceptible to viral infections because of their immunocompromised background. HTLV-1 is a retrovirus that leads to adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma or myelopathies. This study aimed to evaluate HTLV-1 antibodies among renal transplant recipients in Urmia, Iran.

Serum samples of 91 renal transplant recipients from Urmia, Iran, were examined serologically for antibodies against HTLV type 1 using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Mean age was 37.26 +/- 14.22 years old. Only 1 patient had a positive anti-HTLV-1 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test, which was confirmed by Western blot. The HTLV-1-positive case did not have HTLV-associated clinical manifestation. This patient was a 45-year-old man, with no history of blood transfusion, but he did have a history of hemodialysis before transplant.

The frequency of HTLV-1 among renal transplant recipients of our region in the northwest of Iran was not so high, and it is similar to the HTLV- 1 seroprevalence among hemodialysis patients. Still, it is more frequent among healthy blood donors as representative of the general population in our region.