Correlation between HTLV-1

tax mRNA load and HTLV-1 Tax protein expression in vitro. PBMCs from 4 HAM/TSP patients were cultured for 48 hours. Cultured PBMC samples were harvested after 0, 12, 24, and 48 hours to estimate HTLV-1tax mRNA load and the percentage of HTLV-1 Tax protein expressing cells. HTLV-1 Tax protein expression closely followed HTLV-1tax mRNA expression in the PBMCs from these individuals.