The Journal of dermatology
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Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) induces adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL), HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) and carrier. ATLL is a mature CD4+ CD25+ CCR4+ T-cell neoplasm, and approximately half of patients have direct skin involvement manifesting patch, plaque, tumor, multiple papules, erythroderma and purpura. However, there exist secondary eruptions without tumor cell infiltration in patients with ATLL or HAM/TSP and carriers of HTLV-1. ⋯ They were graft-versus-host disease-like, major secondary lesions and seen in HTLV-1 carriers and patients with HAM/TSP and smoldering ATLL. We coin the term HTLV-1-associated lichenoid dermatitis (HALD) to encompass the conditions. HALD may occur in association with the elevated immunity toward HTLV-1-infected CD4+ T cells, thus sharing the pathogenetic role of cytotoxic T cells with HAM/TSP.