Enhancement of HIV-1 cytocidal effects in CD4+ lymphocytes by the AIDS-associate mycoplasma
Article Abstract:
Many patients with AIDS are infected with the microorganism Mycoplasma fermentans. Mycoplasma fermentans causes an infection that can spread throughout the body, causing lesions in the lymph nodes, spleen, liver, adrenal glands, heart and brain. In AIDS, a wide spectrum of clinical symptoms is seen, and the time necessary for clinical symptoms to first be detected and the rate of disease progression vary greatly among patients infected with HIV-1 (human immunodeficiency virus type-1). It is asked whether infection with other agents might be the reason for the wide spectrum of characteristics of disease. This study analyzed human T lymphocytes grown in tissue culture that were infected with either Mycoplasma fermentans or HIV-1, or co-infected with both. When the lymphocytes were co-infected, the extent of cell death caused by HIV-1 was increased. Formation of syncytia (large, multinucleated cells containing HIV-infected T cells) was inhibited by co-infection. Culture fluid from the cells that were co-infected with both organisms contained a factor that inhibited the activity of a major enzyme necessary for the reproduction of HIV, reverse transcriptase. However, the replication and formation of mature viral particles still occurred. Therefore, the culture fluid contained something that masked the assay. The changes caused by co-infection of cells with Mycoplasma fermentans and HIV-1, including increased cell death, may contribute to the disease state of AIDS. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Science
Subject: Science and technology
ISSN: 0036-8075
Year: 1991
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Induction of AIDS in rhesus monkeys by molecularly cloned simian immunodeficiency virus
Article Abstract:
Research aimed at combatting infection caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the agent responsible for AIDS, has been hampered by the lack of a reliable animal model. Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) is similar to HIV in many ways. Both viruses share the following characteristics: viral structures having a tendency to bind to CD4 lymphocytes and macrophages (white blood cells, which they then infect); extra genes that other viruses in their class do not have; CD4 (a molecule located on the surface of some white blood cells) is used as a receptor; the ability to injure cells; and the ability to cause chronic disease as a result of long-term infection. The symptoms of the AIDS-like disease caused by SIV are similar to those resulting from infection with HIV. The techniques of testing the SIVmac239 clone, one of three SIV clones that are promising candidates for an HIV-like infectious agent, are described. In studies at two different research institutions, approximately half the monkeys infected with this clone died within one year. SIV induces a disease in monkeys that is similar to AIDS and it does so within a time frame that facilitates research aimed at treatment. Much remains to be learned about the basic mechanisms by which SIV damages cells and causes disease. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Science
Subject: Science and technology
ISSN: 0036-8075
Year: 1990
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Predominant expression of T cell receptor V alpha7 in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes of uveal melanoma
- Abstracts: T cells responsive to myelin basic protein in patients with multiple sclerosis. Antigen presentation requires transport of MHC class I molecules from the endoplasmic reticulum