HTLV‐1 cell‐free DNA in plasma as a potential biomarker in HTLV‐1 carriers and adult T‐cell leukemia‐lymphoma

Abstract

Viral cell‐free DNA (cfDNA) in plasma has been widely evaluated for detecting cancer and monitoring disease in virus‐associated tumors. We investigated whether the amount of cfDNA of human T‐cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV‐1) correlates with disease state in adult T‐cell leukemia‐lymphoma (ATL). HTLV‐1 cfDNA in aggressive ATL was significantly higher than that in indolent ATL and asymptomatic carriers. Notably, patients with lymphoma type represented higher HTLV‐1 cfDNA amount than chronic and smoldering subtypes, though they had no abnormal lymphocytes in the peripheral blood. HTLV‐1 cfDNA can be a universal biomarker that reflects the expansion of ATL clones.