High Expression of Inflammatory Cytokines and Chemokines in Human T-Lymphotropic Virus 1-Associated Adult T-Cell Leukemia/Lymphoma Publisher



Soltani S¹ ; Mozhgani SH^{2, 3} ; Siri G⁴ ; Emadi MS⁵ ; Foroushani AR⁶ ; Jazayeri SM¹ ; Bahavar A² ; Norouzi M¹ Show Affiliations
Source: Jundishapur Journal of Microbiology Published:2022

Abstract

Background: Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the etiological agent of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) without any specific antiviral. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the expression level of inflammatory chemokines and pro-inflammatory cytokines in ATLL patients, asymptomatic carriers (ACs), and healthy individuals to assess the role of these inflammatory markers in ATLL pathogenic-ity. Methods: This study was conducted from May 2021 to August 2022. The ATLL blood samples were collected from the oncology wards of Imam Khomeini, Shariati, and Imam Hossein hospitals, in Tehran, Iran. The blood samples of ACs and normal control subjects were collected from blood donors referred to blood transfusion centers of Tehran and Alborz provinces, Iran. RNA extraction, com-plementary DNA (cDNA) synthesis, and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were done in targeted sample groups to investigate the correlation and expression rate of C-C motif chemokine ligand 3 (CCL3), C-C motif chemokine ligand 4 (CCL4), C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 8 (CXCL8), interleukin 23 subunit alpha (IL-23A), and interleukin 17 A (IL-17A). Results: A total of 30 samples were collected from 3 groups. The CCL3, CCL4, CXCL8, and IL-17A messenger RNA (mRNA) expression levels were significantly upregulated in the ATLL groups. There was a significant difference between CCL3 expression between the ACs and ATLL groups. In addition, CCL4 and CXCL8 expression levels were more significant in the ATLL group than in the normal control group. The IL-17A expression level significantly increased between groups. The IL-23A expression levels had no significant differences between the ATLL, ACs, and normal control groups. Conclusions: This study showed significant upregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines mRNAs in HTLV-1–associated ATLL compared to the ACs and normal control groups. Conducting more experiments to investigate the therapeutic effect of chemokines/cytokines in ATLL is essential. © 2022, Author(s).