The gene expression of TNFα, IFNγ and IL-10 within ‘ATL-like’ cells was higher in patients with non-malignant infection compared to ATL (p = 0.048, p = 0.031 and = 0.056 respectively) in keeping with relative frequencies of cytokine secreting cells by intracellular cytokine staining. Here, IFNG is linked to infection.