Macaque monkey type D retrovirus replicates in vitro in a distinct subpopulation of B lymphocytes.
Type D retroviruses have recently been shown to induce a wasting syndrome with associated lymphadenopathy, thymic atrophy and transient decreased peripheral blood lymphocyte blastogenic responsiveness in juvenile macaque monkeys. The replication in vitro of D/New England virus was assessed in various lymphocyte subpopulations to determine the possible pathogenesis of the immune dysfunction induced by this virus. While D/New England did not replicate in cultured T lymphocytes or induce any demonstrable dysfunction of T cells in vitro, it did grow in the cells of the B lymphocyte lineage. D/New England growth occurred in vitro in African Burkitt's lymphoma and pre-B cell lines, but not in Epstein-Barr virus-transformed normal B lymphocytes. The infection of a restricted B lymphocyte population by this primate type D retrovirus may play a role in the aetiology of the immune abnormalities which it induces.
D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000382:microbiology; D002051:Burkitt Lymphoma / Q000382:microbiology; D002472:Cell Transformation, Viral; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human; D006801:Humans; D007153:Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D008251:Macaca / Q000382:microbiology*; D008992:Monkey Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000382:microbiology; D014779:Virus Replication