Immunohistochemical studies of productive rhesus cytomegalovirus infection in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) infected with simian immunodeficiency virus.

In humans infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), clinical disease due to human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is one of the AIDS-defining diseases; HCMV is the most common opportunistic infection found postmortem. Histologically, the typical lesions are characterized by "owl's eye cells." In rhesus monkeys infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), comparable lesions are caused by an infection with the rhesus CMV (RhCMV). The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of productive and latent RhCMV infection in monkeys infected with SIV macaques (SIVmac). Eleven SIVmac-infected rhesus monkeys, which were euthanatized after developing AIDS-like disease, and 11 clinically healthy and uninfected animals comprised the study. The monkeys were screened serologically for RhCMV by western-blot analysis. Immunohistochemistry was performed by an indirect immunoperoxidase technique with a polyclonal rabbit RhCMV-antiserum. Lesions characteristic of RhCMV-associated diseases were detected histologically. All animals were latently RhCMV-infected. Seven of eleven (63.6%) SIV-infected macaques were productively RhCMV infected according to immunohistochemistry. RhCMV antigen was identified in the gastrointestinal tract, the hepatobiliary system, the lungs, and the testicles. Two of these seven animals showed characteristic inflammatory lesions associated with productive infection. Consequently, the CMV prevalence in SIVmac-infected rhesus monkeys and human AIDS patients is comparable.

Cystine levels, cystine flux, and protein catabolism in cancer cachexia, HIV/SIV infection, and senescence.

Patients with skeletal muscle catabolism (cachexia) fail to conserve the skeletal muscle protein and release large amounts of nitrogen as urea. Previous studies suggest that the threshold for the conversion of amino acids into other forms of chemical energy and the concomitant production of urea are regulated by the plasma cystine level and hepatic cysteine catabolism. Studies of plasma amino acid exchange rates in the lower extremities now show that healthy young subjects regulate their plasma cystine level in a process that may be described as controlled constructive catabolism. The term controlled describes the fact that the release of cystine and other amino acids from the peripheral tissue is negatively correlated with (certain) plasma amino acid levels. The term constructive describes the fact that the release of cystine is correlated with an increase of the plasma cystine level. The regulation of the plasma cystine level is disturbed in conditions with progressive skeletal muscle catabolism including cancer, HIV infection, and old age. These conditions show also a low plasma glutamine:cystine ratio indicative of an impaired hepatic cystine catabolism. In HIV+ patients and SIV-infected macaques, a decrease of the plasma cystine level was found to coincide with the decrease of CD4+ T cells.

Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) gp130 oligomers protect rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) against the infection with SIVmac32H grown on T-cells or derived ex vivo.

The efficacy of three SIVmac32H gp130 vaccines was compared in rhesus monkeys. Three rhesus monkeys were each immunized over a period of 20 weeks with a total of 600 microgram virion-derived gp130 oligomers (O-gp130) mixed with keyhole limpet hemocyanin and emulsified with incomplete Freund's adjuvant. Three other monkeys were infected with 5 x 10(8) PFU of vaccinia virus wild type (VV-wt) while three additional animals received an equivalent dose of VV expressing the gp130 of SIVmac (VV-gp130). At Week 8, the two VV-wt animals received an additional immunization with 100 microgram O-gp130 each. All VV-infected animals then received booster immunizations at Weeks 12, 16, and 20 with a total of 300 microgram O-gp130 per animal. All animals along with two controls were challenged iv with 50 MID50 of T-cell-grown SIVmac32H at Week 22. Four weeks after the challenge and thereafter, both controls and one animal from either VV group were infected as demonstrated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), virus isolation, and antibody response. In contrast, all O-gp130 animals and one animal each from the VV-wt and the VV-gp130 group were completely protected as shown by negative PCR and virus reisolation. One animal of the VV-gp130 group was partially protected, since it remained virus isolation negative but became PCR positive. All protected animals did not develop a secondary antibody response. Six months after the first challenge, the five completely protected animals were reimmunized twice 4 weeks apart with a total of 200 microgram O-gp130 per animal. Two weeks later, all animals were challenged with 5 MID50 of the SIVmac32H/spI prepared from the spleen of an immunized, but unprotected SIV-infected rhesus monkey. After the second challenge, all three control animals and one of the vaccinees become productively infected. In contrast, two animals were completely protected, one from the former O-gp130 and one from the former VV-gp130 group. One animal from the former VV-wt group was only DNA-PCR positive and thus partially protected. Therefore, immunization with virion-derived gp130 oligomers of SIVmac32H can confer protection against the infection with T-cell-grown SIVmac32H as well as the ex vivo isolate SIVmac32H/spI.