[Molecular characterization of HTLV-II from an intravenous drug addict with AIDS in Argentina]

M Biglione1, M M Avila, J Biglione

  • 1Centro Nacional de Referencia para el SIDA, Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Ten intravenous drug user AIDS patients were studied to determine the presence of HTLV-I/II infection. Sera were screened by particle agglutination test and by an in house indirect immunofluorescence assay using MT2 (HTLV-I) and C19 (HTLV-II) producing cell lines. Out of the ten sera, one was confirmed HTLV-II positive by Western blot. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were obtained from this patient, separated through a Ficoll-Hypaque gradient and DNA was extracted and amplified by semi-nested PCR. The amplified product obtained was cloned and sequenced. Results demonstrated the presence of HTLV-II proviral DNA and comparison of the obtained sequence with different HTLV-II prototypes led to classify the virus into subtype a. This is the first molecular characterization of HTLV-II in an intravenous drug user in Argentina.