A Second Isolate of HTLV-II Associated with Atypical Hairy-Cell Leukemia

Abstract

THE human T-cell lymphotropic viruses Type I (HTLV-I) and Type II (HTLV-II) and the bovine leukemia virus, which are members of a family of leukemogenic mammalian retroviruses, share some of the same structural and functional characteristics. HTLV-I has been implicated as the causative agent of adult T-cell leukemia, a T-cell lymphoid malignant disease endemic to southern Japan and the Caribbean area.^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8} Bovine leukemia virus has been recognized as a cause of specific lymphoid malignant diseases of cattle.^{9 10 11} The role of HTLV-II in human cancer is unclear. This agent is a human retrovirus with a nucleic acid sequence homology to HTLV-I . . .