Alteration of HTLV-I Tax expression and proviral load.

PBMCs from 4 patients with HAM/TSP were cultured for 0 hour, 12 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, and 96 hours. HTLV-I Tax protein expression of the cultured cells and proviral load were measured at each time point. The closed triangle (dotted line) indicates the percentage of Tax-expressing cells. The open circle (solid line) indicates the copy number of HTLV-I provirus (DNA) per 100 cells. (A) HAM-3. (B) HAM-4.