The presence and absence of histocompatibility antigens in HIV type 1 produced by autologous blood-derived macrophages and peripheral blood lymphoblasts

Acquisition of cellular proteins by HIV-1 virions is known to alter the phy siology of the virus in vitro, Reported studies of this aspect have been la rgely limited to transformed T cell lines. In this study, we investigated t he incorporation of major histocompatibility antigens (HLAs) on a primary m acrophage-tropic isolate, HIV-1(ADA), grown from autologous monocyte-derive d macrophages (MDMs) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), A viru s precipitation assay (VPA) demonstrated that HIV-1(ADA) grown from PBMCs i ncorporated substantial amounts of HLA class I (alpha chain and beta(2)m) a nd DR antigens, comparable with a laboratory strain, HIV-1(MN), grown from the same host cells. HIV-1(ADA), however, grown from MDMs incorporated sign ificantly lower amounts of HLAI and -II antigens despite the fact that the infected MDMs were found to express significant amounts of HLA antigens. Th e lack of incorporation of these important immunomodulatory cell surface pr oteins may be yet another unique characteristic of macrophage-tropic isolat es and suggests a possible role in their biology and or immunology.