HTLV-1 and host barriers interactions

HTLV-1 (Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus Type 1) is a human retrovirus that infects around 10 million people worldwide. It can be transmitted by sexual contact, transfusion of contaminated blood, and from infected mother-to-child during prolonged breastfeeding. The latter involves viral crossing of the digestive tract. HTLV-1 is the etiological agent of both a lymphoproliferative malignancy, Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma, and a chronic inflammatory neuromyelopathy, the Tropical Spastic Paraparesis/HTLV-1 Associated Myelopathy (TSP/HAM). TSP/HAM is characterized by HTLV-1-infected lymphocyte infiltration in the central nervous system; these cells cross the blood-brain barrier, an anatomical barrier that normally isolates and protects the central nervous system from blood. In this context, the present review focuses on latest findings and opinions on the interactions of HTLV-1 with the intestinal barrier, as involved in mother-to-child viral transmission, and with the blood-brain barrier, as involved in TSP/HAM pathogenesis.