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A nested case–control study of risk factors for adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma among human T-cell lymphotropic virus type-I carriers in Japan

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Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the serological risk factors for development of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) among human T-cell lymphotropic virus type-I (HTLV-I) carriers. Methods: A nested case–control study was performed. The source population comprised 23,922 subjects who had either visited the outpatient clinic or who had received annual health check-ups at the K Hospital, Nagasaki, Japan, at least once during 1985–1996 (HTLV-I seroprevalence = 16.1%). Markers of HTLV-I infection were examined in stored sera from 29 incident cases of ATL diagnosed during 1985–1997, and 158 controls matched for sex, birth year, date of sample collection, and HTLV-I seropositivity (median follow-up = 6.4 years). Results: In exact conditional logistic regression analysis, high levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptor ( ≥ 500 U/ml) and high HTLV-I antibody titers (≥ 1024) were independently associated with an increased risk of developing ATL (Odds ratio 20.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 4.5–194 and 2.9, 95% CI 0.98–9.5, respectively). The results remained essentially unchanged when the subjects were restricted to those whose histories were followed for two years or longer. Conclusions: These findings indicate that high soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels and high HTLV-I antibody titers are strong predictors of ATL among carriers of HTLV-I.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine and Health Promotion, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki, 852-8523, Japan

    Kokichi Arisawa

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Radiation Effects Research Foundation, Nagasaki, Japan

    Kokichi Arisawa & Midori Soda

  3. Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan

    Shigeru Katamine & Kenji Kurokawa

  4. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan

    Shimeru Kamihira

  5. Tsukuba Research Laboratory, Eisai Co. Ltd, Tsukuba, Japan

    Takashi Sawada

  6. Department of Health and Welfare, Nagasaki Prefecture, Nagasaki, Japan

    Hiroshi Doi

  7. Department of Preventive Medicine and Health Promotion, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan

    Hiroshi Saito

  8. Kamigoto Hospital, Nagasaki, Japan

    Satoshi Shirahama

Authors
  1. Kokichi Arisawa
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  2. Shigeru Katamine
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  3. Shimeru Kamihira
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  4. Kenji Kurokawa
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  5. Takashi Sawada
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  6. Midori Soda
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  7. Hiroshi Doi
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  8. Hiroshi Saito
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  9. Satoshi Shirahama
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Arisawa, K., Katamine, S., Kamihira, S. et al. A nested case–control study of risk factors for adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma among human T-cell lymphotropic virus type-I carriers in Japan. Cancer Causes Control 13, 657–663 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019511224501

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