A NEW TRANSMISSIBLE AIDS-LIKE DISEASE IN MICE INDUCED BY ALLOIMMUNE STIMULI

The search for a suitable and reliable animal model for human AIDS tha t is easy to use on a large scale continues. Here we describe a new co ndition in mice that closely resembles human AIDS, namely, chronic lym phoproliferation with dramatic depletion of CD4-positive cells, progre ssive impairment of the immune responses, and Kaposi's sarcoma-like tu mors or terminal B-lymphomas. The AIDS-like disease was primarily indu ced by mating BALB/c female mice to C57BL/6 males during a 1-year peri od (7-10 allogeneic pregnancies) followed by immunization with paterna l lymphocytes. The disease is sexually and vertically transmissible, t ransferrable by cell-free plasma and is associated with autoimmune rea ctions to major histocompatibility complex antigens and CD4 cells. We hope that this becomes a model for studying the mechanisms of AIDS imm unopathogenesis and immune-based treatment approaches.