HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS INFECTION OF HUMAN BONE-MARROW STROMAL MYOID CELLS

In order to investigate the potential susceptibility of bone marrow st romal myoid cells to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a myoid cell population devoid of all other cellular components of marrow environme nt was isolated from 3 normal adult bone marrow samples. The bone marr ow myoid cells mere infected with 3 different strains of HIV-1, 2 stra ins isolated from patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (A IDS) and HTLV-IIIB strain. To demonstrate successful infection and HIV production, culture supernatants, harvested weekly until 2 months pos t-infection, were tested for the presence of p24 antigen and infectiou s virus. Myoid cell monolayers obtained from the 3 different bone marr ow samples were shown to be susceptible to infection. In particular, i nfection led to the presence of p24 antigen and of infectious virus in culture supernatants up to day 49 post-infection. After day 49, it wa s not possible to demonstrate the presence of infectious virus in cult ure supernatants and HIV-DNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) failed to show viral genome in any of the cultures assayed. Our results demonst rate the susceptibility of myoid stromal cells to HIV infection and ma y provide an in vitro model for studying the effects of HIV infection in disregulation of the haemopoietic function of bone marrow environme nt.