Post-translational glycosylation of target proteins implicate molecular mimicry in the pathogenesis of HTLV-1 associated neurological disease.

We hypothesized that molecular mimics between human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) and human autoantigens were based upon post-translational modification of target proteins. Proteins purified from MT-2 (HTLV-1 infected) and Jurkat (HTLV-1 negative) cells were used for western blotting with HTLV-1 associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) IgG. In contrast to normal IgG, HAM/TSP IgG immunoreacted with proteins in MT-2 cells at 22-24 kDa, pI 8.0, which were identified as peroxiredoxin 1 and HTLV-1-p24-(gag) by mass spectroscopy. Western blots following glycoprotein purification showed that HAM/TSP IgG reacted with PrX-1 and p24 in MT-2 cells but not in Jurkat cells, indicating that the mimicking target proteins were glycosylated. These data suggest that post-translational glycosylation of target proteins may play a role in the pathogenesis of HAM/TSP.