T. Chai et al., INFECTION OF HUMAN BONE-MARROW STROMAL CELLS BY HEPATITIS-B VIRUS - IMPLICATIONS FOR VIRAL PERSISTENCE AND THE SUPPRESSION OF HEMATOPOIESIS, The Journal of infectious diseases, 169(4), 1994, pp. 871-874
Suspension cultures of bone marrow cells (BMC) were challenged with he
patitis B virus (HBV) to study interactions between the virus and the
nonadherent and adherent BMC populations. Virus-challenged BMC develop
ed an adherent stromal layer that differed in cellular composition fro
m that of mock-infected cultures, showing a threefold increase in cell
s of the monocyte-macrophage lineage with an accompanying decrease in
cells of the granulocytic lineage. Both viral envelope hepatitis B sur
face and core antigen expression was detected in adherent and nonadher
ent cell populations up to 10 days after virus challenge, which decrea
sed thereafter. HBV DNA was still detectable in adherent cells 3 weeks
after virus challenge, as shown by polymerase chain reaction analysis
. These data indicate that HBV can infect not only bone marrow colony-
forming cells but also the stromal cell populations involved with the
regulation of hematopoiesis in vivo. Such virus-cell interactions coul
d contribute to the immune dysfunction and bone marrow failure occasio
nally reported for patients with HBV infection as well as acting as an
important site for HBV latency and persistence.