Short communication: Absence of evidence of HTLV-3 and HTLV-4 in patients with large granular lymphocyte (LGL) leukemia.

Clonal disorders of large granular lymphocytes (LGL) result in leukemia due to the expansion of a discrete subset of either CD3(+) T cells or natural killer (NK) cells. It has been hypothesized that a viral antigen acts as the initial stimulus causing the expansion of these cells. The possible involvement of human T cell lymphotropic virus types 1 and 2 (HTLV-1 and HTLV-2) in this disease has been studied but no conclusive evidence has linked either virus with LGL leukemia.