Introduction

Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus I (HTLV-I) is the first human retrovirus discovered (1979). Two years later HTLV-II was also discovered. About 15 to 20 million people are infected with these viruses worldwide. HTLV-I is endemic in North of Iran. Transmission is mostly through sexual contact, breastfeeding, Transfusion, Transplant and Intravenous drug use. Within the body, infection spreads slowly through virological synapses from cell to cell and takes 20-50 years to develop symptoms. Infection with HTLV-I may lead to leukemia/lymphoma or myelopathy while HTLV-II causes mild neurologic disorders or chronic pulmonary infection. Disease progress and pathogenesis depend partly on proviral load and monitoring that could be beneficial for patient management.

HTLV-I RQ kit provides a ready-to-use Real-Time PCR system for detection and quantitation of HTLV-I provirus and cellular titer (based on Albumin gene) with Rotor-Gene or StepOne machines. The Albumin gene also monitors extraction quality and prevents false negative results.

Currently Real-Time PCR provides the highest sensitivity and widest dynamic range among other methods for detection of HTLV- I and viral load determination. In this method application of fluorescent probes allows detection of amplified product. Analysis of fluorescent kinetics also leads to quantification of the target sequence in the reaction without requiring post-amplification analysis, reducing the possibility of contamination with the PCR product.