Exocrinopathy resembling Sjögren's syndrome in HTLV-1 tax transgenic mice

HUMAN T-cell leukaemia virus 1 (HTLV-1) is a retrovirus aetiologically associated with adult T-cell leukaemia (ATL)^1-3, tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP) ^4-6 and possibly multiple sclerosis (MS)⁷ in humans. Three founder lines of transgenic mice containing the HTLV-1 tax gene under the control of the viral long terminal repeat (LTR) ⁸ have previously been shown to develop neurofibromas⁹. Further analysis of these animals has now revealed that they also develop an exocrinopathy involving the salivary and lachrymal glands. This pathology resembles Sjögren's syndrome, a disease of presumed autoimmune aetiology, features of which are sometimes reported in HTLV-1 associated conditions. Mice with an HTLV-1 tax transgene might be a useful model for studying the development of Sjögren-syndrome-like pathology.