HTLV-1-infected T cells contain a single integrated provirus in natural infection.

Human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) appears to persist in the chronic phase of infection by driving oligoclonal proliferation of infected T cells. Our recent high-throughput sequencing study revealed a large number (often > 10(4)) of distinct proviral integration sites of HTLV-1 in each host that is greatly in excess of previous estimates. Here we use the highly sensitive, quantitative high-throughput sequencing protocol to show that circulating HTLV-1(+) clones in natural infection each contain a single integrated proviral copy. We conclude that a typical host possesses a large number of distinct HTLV-1-infected T-cell clones.