Cell surface antigen expression in cultured lymphocytes derived from healthy HTLV-I carriers

We studied cell surface antigens on fresh and cultured peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) of healthy HTLV-I carriers. OKT4, OKT8 and OKIa1-positive cells were found to be within the normal range as compared with controls both in fresh and in cultured PBL. The percentage of Tac positive cells in HTLV-I carriers was shown to be higher in fresh PBL than that of controls. Furthermore the value increased significantly during cell culture in vitro and large blastoid cells appeared. The results suggested that HTLV-I proliferation in infected lymphocytes is activated in a serum-free environment and that small resting lymphocytes are transformed into Tac-positive large blastoid cells.