EPIDERMAL LANGERHANS CELLS OF AIDS PATIENTS EXPRESS HIV-1 REGULATORY AND STRUCTURAL GENES

In this study we searched for the presence of human immunodeficiency v irus (HIV-1)-spliced mRNA in epidermal cells from AIDS patients. Using reverse polymerase chain reaction and Southern hybridization we detec ted mRNA for HIV-1 regulatory (tot, rev, nef) and structural genes (en v) in epidermal cells highly enriched for Langerhans cells, but not in Langerhans cell-depleted epidermal cells in two of three HIV-I infect ed patients tested. In contrast to the expression of HIV-1 mRNA, T-cel l - specific mRNA was readily detectable in all preparations of langer hans cell-depleted but in only one preparation of Langerhans cell-enri ched epidermal cells. This indicates that contaminating T cells are a very unlikely source of virus-specific mRNA in our epidermal cell prep arations. Our data suggest that Langerhans cells are the main, if not the only, cell type infected with HIV-I within the epidermis of AIDS p atients and demonstrate that HIV-1 regulatory as well as structural ge nes are transcribed in these cells.