Virus Do Not Express Tax Protein

The present study was conducted to determine whether in-terferon (IFN)–g production by CD4+ cells in patients infected with human T cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) is associated with expression of Tax, an HTLV type 1 (HTLV-1) transacti-vator. The frequency of IFN-g production from CD4+ cells was greater in HTLV-1–infected patients ( ) than in unin-np 21 fected ( ) and Strongyloides stercoralis–infected patientsnp 3 (), and greater in patients with HTLV-1 with detectablenp 4 Tax than in patients with HTLV-1 with undetectable Tax. In the patients with HTLV-1 with detectable Tax, the majority of CD4+ cells making IFN-g did not express Tax. Human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infection predisposes patients to severe and refractory Strongyloides ster-coralis (Ss) infections [1, 2]. This appears to be the result of the down-regulation of the usual Th2 response to Strongyloide