CHARACTERIZATION OF CELLS OF THE MYELOID-MONOCYTIC LINEAGE (ML-1, HL-60, THP-1, U-937) CHRONICALLY INFECTED WITH THE HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCYVIRUS-1

The myeloid-monocytic cells ML- 1, HL-60, THP-1 and U-937 were chronic ally infected (for more than 2 years) with the lymphotropic HIV-1 stra in HTLV-IIIB. Reinfection experiments revealed that viruses obtained f rom chronically infected ML- 1 /HIV-1 and HL-60/HIV- 1 cells show a lo w infectivity if tested with uninfected ML- 1 and HL-60 cells in contr ast to virus preparations from chronically infected THP-1/HIV-1 and U- 937/HIV-1 with their corresponding uninfected cell lines. Analyses of selected cell surface markers showed a differential expression of CD4, CD8, CD11c, CD 14, CD 1 5, CD20, HLA-DR and HLA-DQ in non- or chronic ally infected cells. During chronical infection, the myeloid-monocytic cells lost their reactivity with peroxidase and esterase. In chronica lly infected cells, the steady-state levels for TNF-alpha mRNA remaine d unchanged while those for IL-6 decreased. The half-lives of transcri pts of both TNF-alpha (t1/2: 70 min) and IL-6 (t1/2: 1 00 min) were ne arly the same in uninfected and chronically infected HL-60 cells.