Human T-cell lymphotropic virusHBZandtaxmRNA expression are associated with specific clinicopathological features in adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) is caused by human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1). HTLV-1-associated mRNA, includingHBZandtax, is deeply involved in the pathogenesis of ATLL. Using 88 ATLL tissue samples, we performed in situ mRNA analysis ofHBZandtax, and investigated its association with clinicopathological characteristics of ATLL. The median value ofHBZsignals (/1000 ATLL cells) was 795.2 (range: 0.4-4013.1) and oftaxsignals (/1000 ATLL cells) was 5.1 (range: 0.1-891.2). The low-expressionHBZgroup displayed significant increase in the number of skin lesion (P = 0.0283). The high-expressiontaxgroup displayed significant increase in the number of PD-1-positive tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (P < 0.0001). In addition, we identified patients with very high-expression oftaxsignals (400 or more signals/1000 ATLL cells). These patients displayed significant reductions in the expression of HLA class I (P = 0.0385) and beta 2M (P = 0.0124). Moreover, these patients displayed significantly poor overall survival (median survival time [MST] 7.7 months, 95% confidence interval [CI] [4.7-NA]), compared with the survival in patients with less than 400taxsignals (MST 22.6 months, 95% CI [13.7-41.7]) (P = 0.0499). These results suggest that Tax-mediated treatment of ATLL should be performed carefully in the high-expressiontaxgroup. More detailed studies could elucidate the clinicopathological significance ofHBZandtaxmRNA expressions in ATLL.

Automated summary

The mRNA expression levels of HBZ and tax in patients with ATLL are associated with clinicopathological characteristics, with different levels of expression impacting disease severity and overall survival time. Patients with high levels of tax expression are at a higher risk of poor prognosis and reduced survival time. Further studies are needed to fully understand the clinical significance of HBZ and tax mRNA expressions in ATLL.