Immunosuppression in homosexual men seronegative for HTLV-III. NLM AIDSLINE Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1985. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

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Immunosuppression in homosexual men seronegative for HTLV-III.

Cancer Res. 1985 Sep;45(9 Suppl):4616s-4618s. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/85254484
Ranki A; Valle SL; Antonen J; Suni J; Jokipii L; Jokipii AM; Saxinger C; Krohn K

Abstract: Clinical, microbiological, and lifestyle patterns in homosexual men showing in vitro immunological abnormalities were studied and related to the susceptibility to human T-lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV-III) infection. In a cohort of male homosexual volunteers in Finland, 90% were HTLV-III antibody negative. Ten % of the HTLV-III negative cases showed decreased T-helper/suppressor cell ratios, mostly due to elevated numbers of T-suppressor cells. In this immunosuppressed group, more signs of diarrhea, intestinal giardiasis, genital warts, and hepatitis B were observed than in the other HTLV-III antibody-negative study subjects. The type of sexual practice was not associated with the in vitro immune abnormalities. During a follow-up of up to 16 months, 4 initially HTLV-III antibody negative cases showed seroconversion. Three of these had inverted T-helper/suppressor cell ratios prior to the seroconversion. It is concluded that persons showing in vitro immunosuppression are more susceptible to HTLV-III infection when being exposed to the virus or else alteration in T-cell subsets signals a pre-antibody-positive or early phase of HTLV-III infection.
Keywords: Antibodies, Viral/*ANALYSIS Diarrhea/EPIDEMIOLOGY Finland Genital Diseases, Male/EPIDEMIOLOGY Giardiasis/EPIDEMIOLOGY Hepatitis B/EPIDEMIOLOGY Homosexuality Human *Immune Tolerance Leukocyte Count Lymphocyte Transformation Male Support, Non-U.S. Gov't T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer/IMMUNOLOGY T-Lymphocytes, Suppressor-Effector/IMMUNOLOGY Warts/EPIDEMIOLOGY JOURNAL ARTICLE

KWDantibodies,viral/KWDanalysisdiarrhea/epidemiologyfinlandgenitaldiseases,male/epidemiologygiardiasis/epidemiologyhepatitisb/epidemiologyhomosexualityhumanKWDimmunetoleranceleukocytecountlymphocytetransformationmalesupport,non-uKWDsKWDgov'tt-lymphocytes,helper-inducer/immunologyt-lymphocytes,suppressor-effector/immunologywarts/epidemiologyjournalarticle
851130
M85B0136

Copyright © 1985 - National Library of Medicine. Reproduced under license with the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD.

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