Sensitivity and specificity of real-time RT-PCR assay.

(A) To determine the sensitivity of this real-time RT-PCR assay, HTLV-1 tax mRNA load was determined from MT-2 cells serially diluted with PBMCs from an HTLV-1⁻ healthy donor. HTLV-Itax mRNA could be detected from as little as a 10⁻⁶-fold dilution of MT-2 cells. (B) The specificity of this assay was determined by measuring HTLV-1 tax mRNA expression of PBMCs from 5 HTLV-1–noninfected HDs, HTLV-1–uninfected Jurkat cells, and 2 HTLV-1–infected cell lines (MT-2 and Hut 102). HTLV-I tax mRNA was detected in the 2 infected cell lines, but not in uninfected cells.