Effect of Concanamycin A (CMA) on the frequency of Tax expression in CD4+ lymphocytes.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from an asymptomatic carrier (HT) and from a patient with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (TAZ), cultivated with or without CMA for 24 hours, and then processed for the concomitant detection of Tax and CD4 antigens. The effect of CMA was compared with the effect of CD8+ lymphocyte depletion. One representative experiment of 3 is shown. HTLV-I = human T-cell leukemia virus type I.