DETECTION OF INFECTIOUS SIMIAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS IN B-CELL AND T-CELL LYMPHOMAS OF EXPERIMENTALLY INFECTED MACAQUES

An increasing frequency of malignant lymphomas occurs among patients i nfected by human immunodeficiency virus. Because of the close similari ties to human malignancies, we used a nonhuman primate model to study the pathogenesis of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)-associated mal ignancies. Specifically, we investigated (1) the presence of the SIV g enome in tumor cells, (2) the presence of coinfecting viruses, and (3) the presence of a rearrangement of the immunoglobulin and c-myc genes . We observed 5 cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (4 of B- and 1 of T-c ell origin) among 14 SIV-infected cynomolgus monkeys. No c-myc translo cation was observed in the tumors, whereas B-cell lymphomas were chara cterized either by a monoclonal (in 2 of 4) or by an oligoclonal (in 2 of 4) VDJ rearrangements of the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene. Mole cular, biological, and immunological analyses did show the presence of infectious SIV in the tumor cells of 1 T-cell and 2 oligoclonal B-cel l lymphomas. Neither Simian T-lymphotropic nor Epstein-Barr viruses we re detectable, whereas Simian herpes virus Macaca fascicularis-1 was d etectable at a very low copy number in 3 of 4 B-cell lymphomas; howeve r, only 1 of these also harbored the SIV genome. These results support the possibility that SIV may be directly involved in the process of B or T lymphomagenesis occurring in simian acquired immunodeficiency sy ndrome. (C) 1998 by The American Society of Hematology.