title: In vitro susceptibility of T lymphocytes from chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6): a potential animal model to study the interaction between HHV-6 and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in vivo.
abstract: The in vitro susceptibility of several nonhuman primate species to human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) was investigated. Only peripheral blood mononuclear cells from chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) were found permissive to productive infection by HHV-6, indicating that the host range of HHV-6, albeit limited, may not be restricted to Homo sapiens. However, natural HHV-6 infection in chimpanzees, as well as in the other species tested, could not be documented by serological analysis. As previously observed with human cells, HHV-6 infection of chimpanzee peripheral blood mononuclear cells was highly cytopathic and the infected cells exhibited phenotypic features of activated T lymphocytes. Although in humans the majority of HHV-6-infected lymphocytes displayed the CD4 antigen, in chimpanzees a mixed CD4+ and CD8+ phenotype was observed. HHV-6 was also shown to productively coinfect individual chimpanzee T cells with human immunodeficiency virus type 1, resulting in an accelerated induction of cytopathicity. In light of these findings, we propose the utilization of chimpanzees as a potential animal model system to investigate the in vivo interaction between HHV-6 and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and its relevance to the development of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lusso
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Markham
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: DeRocco
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Gallo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000032:analysis; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008954:Models, Biological; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000382:microbiology*; D011323:Primates / Q000382:microbiology; D013045:Species Specificity; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000954:Antigens, Surface