Production of a monoclonal antibody to a membrane antigen of human T-cell leukaemia virus (HTLV1/ATLV)-infected cell lines from a systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patient: serological analyses for HTLV1 infections in SLE patients.

Human T-cell leukaemia virus (HTLV1/ATLV), which causes adult T cell leukaemia (ATL), is an infectious, lymphotrophic retrovirus unique for humans. The present study was undertaken to determine whether HTLV1 had any pathogenetic role for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The incidence of antibodies to ATL cell-associated antigens (ATLA) in sera from patients with SLE and other collagen diseases was investigated by an indirect immunofluorescent cytoplasmic staining of an HTLV1-infected cell line (MT-1). A radioimmunoassay was also performed to detect antibodies to HTLV1 protein and crude membrane fraction derived from an HTLV1-producing cell line MT-2. Furthermore, an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed B cell line (ES-1) was constructed from an SLE patient, which produced a monoclonal antibody (IgG, lambda) reactive to an HTLV1-related cell-membrane antigen expressed on MT-1 and MT-2 cells. The specific reactivity of the monoclonal antibody was analysed by an indirect immunofluorescent cell-membrane staining and a microcytotoxicity test. The incidence of anti-ATLA antibodies was not different among SLE and other collagen diseases. The monoclonal antibody produced by ES-1 stained and killed HTLV1-infected cell lines specifically, but did not react with other human lymphoid cell lines. This monoclonal antibody failed to react with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), mitogen-induced T cell blasts, and iododeoxyuridine-treated T cells from SLE patients. Thus, a possible role of HTLV1 in the aetiology of SLE was not established.