title: Replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in primary cultured placental cells.
abstract: The role of placental cells in transplacental transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV 1) was investigated. Placental macrophages and trophoblasts, which together represent the main cell components of the placenta, were cultivated separately and then compared to foetal monocyte-derived macrophages for susceptibility to HIV 1 infection. Placental macrophages treated with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) were less easily infected with HIV 1 than were GM-CSF-treated foetal monocyte-derived macrophages. HIV 1 replication in cocultures consisting of infected placental macrophages together with a highly HIV 1-permissive cell line (CEM) was detected persistently for at least 6 weeks by reverse transcriptase assay, even though placental macrophages expressed no detectable CD4 receptor, as indicated by indirect immunofluorescence. HIV 1-specific DNA sequences were also detected in infected placental macrophages. Trophoblasts exhibited no detectable CD4 expression and did not support the replication of HIV 1, although low levels of HIV 1-specific DNA sequences could be detected in infected trophoblasts. Placental macrophages or trophoblasts (or both) may thus play an important role in transplacental HIV 1 transmission.
authors.affiliation: INSERM U 322, Unité de Recherches sur les Rétrovirus et Maladies associées, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mano
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Chermann
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008264:Macrophages / Q000382:microbiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010920:Placenta / Q000166:cytology / Q000382:microbiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral