Persistent nonproductive infection of Epstein-Barr virus-transformed human B lymphocytes by human immunodeficiency virus type 1.
We have studied the interaction of different strains of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) with an Epstein-Barr virus-transformed human B-lymphocyte line, X50-7. Previously we found that some HIV-1 strains replicated rapidly and were exclusively cytolytic; others induced persistent noncytopathic infection associated with continued shedding of extracellular virus (K. Dahl, K. Martin, and G. Miller, J. Virol. 61:1602-1608, 1987). We now describe a third form of cell-virus relationship in which infection by strain IIIB is maintained in a highly cell-associated state in a small subpopulation (less than 2%) of X50-7 cells. Neither viral subcomponents nor infectious virus was detectable in culture supernatants; however, the carrier lines were fusogenic and HIV-1 could be recovered following prolonged cocultivation with susceptible cells. In these chronic carrier cultures, virions were not seen budding at the cell surface, but a few were found within cytoplasmic vesicles. HIV-1 infection of first- and second-generation cell subclones of the carrier cell line rapidly evolved from a productive to a cell-associated state. There were low levels of HIV DNA, and RNA in the fusogenic secondary clones, but most clones lacked HIV-1 DNA, failed to express HIV-1 RNA, and exhibited no properties associated with HIV-1 infection. The experiments indicate that HIV-1 can be sequestered in human B lymphocytes. The cell cloning experiments introduce the possibility that the HIV-1 provirus may be lost from some lymphocytes.
Dahl
K E
KE
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510-8064.
Burrage
T
T
Jones
F
F
Miller
G
G
D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000382:microbiology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002461:Cell Line, Transformed; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D015726:Giant Cells / Q000382:microbiology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis; D015728:Receptors, HIV / Q000032:analysis; D014779:Virus Replication
D004279:DNA, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral; D015728:Receptors, HIV