ANTIBODIES AGAINST RETROVIRAL PROTEINS AND NUCLEAR ANTIGENS IN A SUBSET OF IDIOPATHIC CD4(-LYMPHOCYTOPENIA PATIENTS() T)

Idiopathic CD4(+) T lymphocytopenia (ICL) is an immunodeficiency syndr ome characterized by severe depletion of CD4(+) T lymphocytes, but in which human immunodeficiency virus cannot be detected. Peripheral bloo d mononuclear cells (BPMCs) from an ICL patient were cocultured with H UT78 T-lymphoblastoid cells, and an acute cytopathic effect and format ion of multinucleated cells were observed. A human intracisternal A-ty pe retroviral particle designated HIAP-II was detected in cells surviv ing the acute cytopathic effect. Eight of 13 ICL patients in a blinded screen of a serological panel provided by the National Centers for Di sease Control and Prevention (CDC) had serum antibodies that specifica lly reacted with HIAP-II associated proteins by Western immunoblotting . None of 19 control sera in the panel that were unreactive with HIV G ag proteins produced a positive result on HIAP-II immunoblots. Compara ble results were obtained in a blinded screen of a second CDC serologi cal panel, Sera from 8 of 14 ICL patients in the second serological pa nel were positive for antinuclear autoantibodies (ANAs) commonly obser ved in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases. These results sugge st the possible involvement of an A-type retrovirus or autoimmunity in development of ICL in a subset of patients.