title: Human and simian glial cells infected by human T-lymphotropic virus type I in culture.
abstract: Although human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) has been implicated in the etiology of tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP) and HTLV-I associated myelopathy (HAM), the direct infectivity of the virus against constituent cells in the central nervous system remains undetermined. To investigate the neurotropism of HTLV-I, we exposed cultured human and simian glial cells to HTLV-I. Primary mixed glial cell cultures of astrocytes and oligodendrocytes were obtained from adult human and cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis) brains by an enzyme digestion-Percoll gradient method. After two weeks in vitro, the cells were co-cultured with irradiated MT-2 cells, an HTLV-I-producing T-cell line. Cultures were double stained with antibodies against cell-type specific markers and anti-HTLV-I p19 (gag) monoclonal antibody. The HTLV-I antigen was demonstrated in small numbers of glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive cells (astrocytes) and galactocerebroside-positive cells (oligodendrocytes) in both the human and simian cultures. Electron microscopy demonstrated the presence of type C virus-like particles in the cytoplasm of astrocytes. These results indicate that HTLV-I is capable of infecting human and simian glial cells in vitro.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Watabe
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saida
authors.forename: S U
authors.initials: SU
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000382:microbiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000032:analysis; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000254:growth & development*; D006801:Humans; D008252:Macaca fascicularis; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008875:Middle Aged; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009836:Oligodendroglia / Q000382:microbiology / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein