{"entity":{"id":"paper-hinuma-adult-t-cell-leukaemia-antigen-pnas-1981","kind":"paper","name":"Adult T-cell leukemia: antigen in an ATL cell line and detection of antibodies to the antigen in human sera","aka":["Hinuma 1981","ATLA antigen","Seroepidemiology of HTLV-1 in Japan"],"tldr":"Japanese researchers found an antigen in cells from a patient with an unusual leukaemia, then found antibodies to it in every one of 44 patients with that leukaemia and in a quarter of healthy adults where the disease clusters.","summary":"Yorio Hinuma and colleagues used indirect immunofluorescence to detect an antigen in the cytoplasm of 1 to 5 per cent of cells of MT-1, a T-cell line from a patient with adult T-cell leukaemia, a disease endemic in southwestern Japan. The antigen was absent from six other T-cell lines, seven B-cell lines and four non-T non-B lines, and did not cross-react with Epstein-Barr virus, herpes simplex virus, cytomegalovirus, varicella-zoster virus, herpesvirus saimiri or Marek disease virus. Culturing with 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine increased the proportion of antigen-bearing cells roughly fivefold, and electron microscopy of those cultures showed extracellular type C virus particles.\n\nThe serology is what made the case. Antibodies against the antigen were found in all 44 patients with adult T-cell leukaemia examined, in 32 of 40 patients with malignant T-cell lymphomas resembling it, in 26 per cent of healthy adults from endemic areas, and in only a few of those from non-endemic areas.\n\nTogether with Poiesz's isolation of the virus in the United States the year before, this established human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 as the cause of adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma, a disease the OnCo corpus does not yet hold as a record of its own.","asOf":"2026-10-01","links":[{"label":"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 1981","url":"https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.78.10.6476"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7031654/"},{"label":"Europe PMC","url":"https://europepmc.org/article/MED/7031654"}],"tags":["lymphoma-evidence"],"related":["paper-poiesz-htlv-retrovirus-cutaneous-t-cell-lymphoma-pnas-1980","lymphoma-roadmap"],"cancers":["peripheral-t-cell-lymphoma","non-hodgkin-lymphoma"],"sections":["prevention","diagnostics"],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":["jcog9801"],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-prevention-adoption","b-global-access"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":["pnas"],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"journal":"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences","year":1981,"doi":"10.1073/pnas.78.10.6476","pmid":"7031654","authors":"Hinuma Y, Nagata K, Hanaoka M, et al.","paperType":"basic","findings":["An antigen was detected by indirect immunofluorescence in the cytoplasm of 1 to 5 per cent of cells of the MT-1 T-cell line from a patient with adult T-cell leukaemia.","The antigen was absent from six other T-cell lines, seven B-cell lines and four non-T non-B cell lines, and showed no cross-reactivity with six herpesviruses including Epstein-Barr virus.","Antibodies to the antigen were found in all 44 patients with adult T-cell leukaemia examined and in 32 of 40 patients with similar malignant T-cell lymphomas.","Antibodies were present in 26 per cent of healthy adults from endemic areas but in only a few from non-endemic areas.","Electron microscopy of induced MT-1 cultures showed extracellular type C virus particles."],"whatItMeans":"The seroepidemiology that tied a virus to a cancer across a population rather than in one patient. It is the reason blood donations are screened for human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 in Japan and elsewhere, and the reason breastfeeding advice is part of cancer prevention in endemic regions.","caveats":["Antibody prevalence of 26 per cent in healthy adults from endemic areas against a lifetime leukaemia risk of a few per cent shows that infection is far from sufficient to cause disease.","The assay detected an antigen rather than isolating the virus; the isolation was Poiesz's the year before.","Sample sizes are small by modern standards, and the comparison areas were not matched for anything other than endemicity."],"changedPractice":true},"route":"/key-papers/paper-hinuma-adult-t-cell-leukaemia-antigen-pnas-1981/","neighbours":{"paper":[{"id":"paper-poiesz-htlv-retrovirus-cutaneous-t-cell-lymphoma-pnas-1980","kind":"paper","name":"Detection and isolation of type C retrovirus particles from fresh and cultured lymphocytes of a patient with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma","route":"/key-papers/paper-poiesz-htlv-retrovirus-cutaneous-t-cell-lymphoma-pnas-1980/"},{"id":"paper-jcog9801-vcap-amp-vecp-adult-t-cell-leukaemia-jco-2007","kind":"paper","name":"VCAP-AMP-VECP compared with biweekly CHOP for adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma: Japan Clinical Oncology Group Study JCOG9801","route":"/key-papers/paper-jcog9801-vcap-amp-vecp-adult-t-cell-leukaemia-jco-2007/"}],"roadmap":[{"id":"lymphoma-roadmap","kind":"roadmap","name":"Lymphoma roadmap: from a jaw tumour in Uganda and the first human cancer virus to gene-expression subtypes, PET-adapted chemotherapy, CAR-T cells, bispecific antibodies and the genetics-directed trials now recruiting","route":"/roadmaps/lymphoma-roadmap/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"non-hodgkin-lymphoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (all types)","route":"/cancers/non-hodgkin-lymphoma/"},{"id":"peripheral-t-cell-lymphoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma)","route":"/cancers/peripheral-t-cell-lymphoma/"}],"section":[{"id":"diagnostics","kind":"section","name":"Diagnostics & Biomarkers","route":"/fronts/diagnostics/"},{"id":"prevention","kind":"section","name":"Prevention & Risk","route":"/fronts/prevention/"}],"trial":[{"id":"jcog9801","kind":"trial","name":"JCOG9801","route":"/trials/jcog9801/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-global-access","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Most of the world has almost no cancer care","route":"/bottlenecks/b-global-access/"},{"id":"b-prevention-adoption","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Prevention we already have is not deployed","route":"/bottlenecks/b-prevention-adoption/"}],"journal":[{"id":"pnas","kind":"journal","name":"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences","route":"/journals/pnas/"}]}}