To characterize a host polygenic profile associated with susceptibility to human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infection, we examined common variants in 11 immunerelated genes among Jamaican children born to HTLV-Iseropositive mothers. Compared with HTLV-I seronegatives, haplotypes of IL6 (Ϫ660G/Ϫ635C/Ϫ236G) and IL10 (Ϫ6653C/Ϫ1116G) were significantly associated with HTLV-I infection in children independent of maternal provirus load and duration of breast-feeding (odds ratio [OR], 4.5

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... % confidence interval {CI}, 1.2-17.6], and OR, 3.5 [95% CI, 1.4-9.0], respectively). Our findings are the first, to our knowledge, to suggest that host variation in both proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory genes could influence susceptibility to HTLV-I infection. Human T cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) is a retrovirus endemic in the Caribbean basin, Japan, parts of West Africa, and the Middle East [1] . Although the majority of