Herpes simplex virus type 2 infection of unstimulated human T-lymphocytes.
Unstimulated human leukemia T-cell lines (MOLT-4, MT-4) were tested for their susceptibility to herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection. Permissive infection of MT-4 cells was demonstrated by growth curve and infectious center assays. In growth curve experiments new progeny virus replication was detected by 24 hrs and maximum titers of HSV-2 replication were measured by 72 hrs after infection of MT-4 cells, whereas, MOLT-4 cells did not produce detectable infectious HSV-2 in growth curve experiments. It may be that a T-cell subset is involved with infectious HSV-2 production, since 5.7% of MT-4 cells were scored as infectious centers after HSV-2 infection compared to only 0.06% of MOLT-4 cells. Furthermore, HSV-2 infected MT-4 (45% of cells) and MOLT-4 cells (30% of cells) expressed viral induced antigen(s) detected by immunofluorescence assays. These data provide the first evidence of infectious HSV-2 replication in T-cells not prestimulated in vitro with mitogens, pharmacologic agents or growth factors. The establishment of T-cell systems that permit rapid and efficient replication of HSV-2 could greatly facilitate studies on interactions between human herpesviruses and AIDS retroviruses since recent published evidence indicates possible synergistic interactions between these virus groups.
Kucera
L S
LS
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27103.
Raben
D
D
Iyer
N
N
Ricardo
M J
MJ
D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis; D003588:Cytopathogenic Effect, Viral; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1; D006801:Humans; D015458:Leukemia, T-Cell; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000502:physiology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000382:microbiology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D014779:Virus Replication
D000956:Antigens, Viral