HTLV-I--associated B-cell CLL: Indirect Role for Retrovirus in Leukemogenesis

Serum containing antibodies to the human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) has been observed at a higher than expected frequency in patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in an area endemic for HTLV-I. An attempt was made to determine whether the cells from patients with this leukemia were HTLV-I antigen-committed B cells that had undergone malignant transformation. Cells from two HTLV-I seropositive Jamaican patients with CLL were fused with a human B-lymphoblastoid cell line. The hybridoma cells that resulted from the fusion of CLL cells from patient I.C. produced an immunoglobulin (IgM) that reacted with the p24 gag protein from HTLV-I, HTLV-II, and HTLV-III (now referred to as HIV), but showed preferential reactivity with HTLV-I. The specific immunoglobulin gene rearrangement (IgM, kappa) in the CLL cell was demonstrated in the hybridoma cell line, indicating that the captured immunoglobulin was from the CLL cells. The IgM secreted by the fusion of CLL cells from patient L.L. reacted only with HTLV-I-infected cells and with the HTLV-I large envelope protein (gp61) on Western blots. The CLL cells from these patients appear to be a malignant transformation of an antigen-committed B cell responding to HTLV-I infection, suggesting an indirect role for this retrovirus in leukemogenesis.