B-cell leukemia in a rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) infected with simian immunodeficiency virus

Conditions associated with abnormal B-cell proliferation have an increased incidence in the HIV-infected population. A longitudinal study conducted at the Tulane Regional Primate Research Center has followed more than 1,000 r hesus macaques infected with simian-immunodeficiency virus (SIV) since 1984 . While spontaneous B-cell malignancy in SIV-negative macaques has not been reported, 42 cases of SIV-associated-lymphoma (SAL) have been documented i n this cohort. Recently we identified a single case of B-cell leukemia, fir st suggested by clinical abnormalities and confirmed and further characteri zed by molecular analysis. The case is important because it models the occu rrence of B-cell leukemia in the human AIDS patient and because: it extends our understanding of the B-cell lymphoproliferative dis eases associated w ith AIDS.