Time course study of Tax protein (A) or messenger RNA (B) expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from asymptomatic carriers of human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) (HAP, HAW), from patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (TBA, TAN), or from an uninfected individual (UA).

PBMCs were cultivated for various times, harvested, and then processed for the detection of Tax antigen (A: HAP, TBA) or mRNA (B: HAW, TAN, UA) expression. As a control, beta-actin messenger RNA expression was also investigated. One representative experiment of 3 is shown.