Induction of thymic atrophy and loss of thymic output by type-I interferons during chronic viral infection.

Type-I interferon (IFN-I) signals exert a critical role in disease progression during viral infections. However, the immunomodulatory mechanisms by which IFN-I dictates disease outcomes remain to be fully defined. Here we report that IFN-I signals mediate thymic atrophy in viral infections, with more severe and prolonged loss of thymic output and unique kinetics and subtypes of IFN-α/ß expression in chronic infection compared to acute infection. Loss of thymic output was linked to inhibition of early stages of thymopoiesis (DN1-DN2 transition, and DN3 proliferation) and pronounced apoptosis during the late DP stage. Notably, infection-associated thymic defects were largely abrogated upon ablation of IFNαßR and partially mitigated in the absence of CD8 T cells, thus implicating direct as well as indirect effects of IFN-I on thymocytes. These findings provide mechanistic underpinnings for immunotherapeutic strategies targeting IFN-1 signals to manipulate disease outcomes during chronic infections and cancers.

Zika virus targets the human thymic epithelium.

Previous work showed that the thymus can be infected by RNA viruses as HIV and HTLV-1. We thus hypothesized that the thymus might also be infected by the Zika virus (ZIKV). Herein we provide compelling evidence that ZIKV targets human thymic epithelial cells (TEC) in vivo and in vitro. ZIKV-infection enhances keratinization of TEC, with a decrease in proliferation and increase in cell death. Moreover, ZIKV modulates a high amount of coding RNAs with upregulation of genes related to cell adhesion and migration, as well as non-coding genes including miRNAs, circRNAs and lncRNAs. Moreover, we observed enhanced attachment of lymphoblastic T-cells to infected TEC, as well as virus transfer to those cells. Lastly, alterations in thymuses from babies congenitally infected were seen, with the presence of viral envelope protein in TEC. Taken together, our data reveals that the thymus, particularly the thymic epithelium, is a target for the ZIKV with changes in the expression of molecules that are relevant for interactions with developing thymocytes.

A Novel HIV-1 Nef Mutation in a Primary Pediatric Isolate Impairs MHC-Class I Downregulation and Cytopathicity.

HIV-1-induced cytopathicity of thymocytes is a major cause of reduced peripheral T cells and rapid disease progression observed in HIV-1-infected infants. Understanding the virulence factors responsible for thymocyte depletion has paramount importance in addressing the pathogenesis of disease progression in children. In this study, thymocyte depletion was analyzed following infection with two primary CXCR4-tropic HIV-1 pediatric isolates (PI), PI-2 and PI-2.1, which were serially derived from an in utero-infected infant. Although highly similar to each other, PI-2 showed markedly decreased thymocyte depletion in vitro compared with PI-2.1. Further analysis showed a novel deletion in the Nef protein (NefΔK7S) of PI-2, which was absent in PI-2.1. This deletion inhibited Nef-mediated major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) downregulation in infected thymocytes in vitro and in vivo; in contrast, the mutated Nef continued to downregulate CD4 surface expression in vitro. These results suggest that HIV-1 Nef contributes to thymic damage in infants through selective functions.

Tetherin Inhibits Cell-Free Virus Dissemination and Retards Murine Leukemia Virus Pathogenesis.

The relative contributions of cell-free virion circulation and direct cell-to-cell transmission to retroviral dissemination and pathogenesis are unknown. Tetherin/Bst2 is an antiviral protein that blocks enveloped virion release into the extracellular milieu but may not inhibit cell-to-cell virus transmission. We developed live-cell imaging assays which show that tetherin does not affect Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV) spread, and only minimally affects vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) spread, to adjacent cells in a monolayer. Conversely, cell-free MLV and VSV virion yields and VSV spread to distal cells were dramatically reduced by tetherin. To elucidate the roles of tetherin and cell-free virions during in vivo viral dissemination and pathogenesis, we developed mice carrying an inducible human tetherin (hTetherin) transgene. While ubiquitous hTetherin expression was detrimental to the growth and survival of mice, restriction of hTetherin expression to hematopoietic cells gave apparently healthy mice. The expression of hTetherin in hematopoietic cells had little or no effect on the number of MoMLV-infected splenocytes and thymocytes. However, hTetherin expression significantly reduced cell-free plasma viremia and also delayed MoMLV-induced disease. Overall, these results suggest that MoMLV spread within hematopoietic tissues and cell monolayers involves cell-to-cell transmission that is resistant to tetherin but that virion dissemination via plasma is inhibited by tetherin and is required for full MoMLV pathogenesis.IMPORTANCE Retroviruses are thought to spread primarily via direct cell-to-cell transmission, yet many have evolved to counteract an antiviral protein called tetherin, which may selectively inhibit cell-free virus release. We generated a mouse model with an inducible tetherin transgene in order to study how tetherin affects retroviral dissemination and on which cell types its expression is required to do so. We first developed a novel in vitro live-cell imaging assay to demonstrate that while tetherin does indeed dramatically reduce cell-free virus spreading, it has little to no effect on direct cell-to-cell transmission of either vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) or the retrovirus MoMLV. Using our transgenic mouse model, we found that tetherin expression on hematopoietic cells resulted in the specific reduction of MoMLV cell-free plasma viremia but not the number of infected hematopoietic cells. The delay in disease associated with this scenario suggests a role for cell-free virus in retroviral disease progression.

Thymic depletion of lymphocytes is associated with the virulence of PRRSV-1 strains.

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) exists as two distinct viruses, type 1 (PRRSV-1) and type 2 (PRRSV-2). Atrophy of the thymus in PRRSV-2 infected piglets has been associated with a loss of thymocytes. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of PRRSV-1 strains of differing virulence on the thymus of infected piglets by analysing the histomorphometry, the presence of apoptotic cells and cells producing cytokines. Thymic samples were taken from animals experimentally infected (with LV, SU1-bel, and 215-06 strains) or mock inoculated animals at 3, 7 and 35days post-infection (dpi) and processed for histopathological and immunohistochemical analyses. PRRSV antigen was detected in the thymus from 3dpi until the end of the study in all virus-infected animals with the highest numbers of infected cells detected in SU1-bel group. The histomorphometry analysis and counts of CD3(+) thymocytes in the thymic cortex displayed significant differences between strains at different time-points (p≤0.011), with SU1-bel group showing the most severe changes at 7dpi. Cell death displayed statistically significant increase in the cortex of all infected animals, with SU1-bel group showing the highest rate at 3 and 7dpi. The number of cells immunostained against IL-1α, TNF-α and IL-10 were predominantly detected in the medulla (p≤0.01). An increase in the number of TNF-α and IL-10 positive cells was observed in LV and SU-1bel groups. Our results demonstrate that different PRRSV-1 strains induced depletion of the thymic cortex due to apoptosis of thymocytes and that the most severe depletion was associated with the highly virulent SU1-bel strain.

Thymic HIV-2 infection uncovers posttranscriptional control of viral replication in human thymocytes.

UNLABELLED: A unique HIV-host equilibrium exists in untreated HIV-2-infected individuals. This equilibrium is characterized by low to undetectable levels of viremia throughout the disease course, despite the establishment of disseminated HIV-2 reservoirs at levels comparable to those observed in untreated HIV-1 infection. Although the clinical spectrum is similar in the two infections, HIV-2 infection is associated with a much lower rate of CD4 T-cell decline and has a limited impact on the mortality of infected adults. Here we investigated HIV-2 infection of the human thymus, the primary organ for T-cell production. Human thymic tissue and suspensions of total or purified CD4 single-positive thymocytes were infected with HIV-2 or HIV-1 primary isolates using either CCR5 or CXCR4 coreceptors. We found that HIV-2 infected both thymic organ cultures and thymocyte suspensions, as attested to by the total HIV DNA and cell-associated viral mRNA levels. Nevertheless, thymocytes featured reduced levels of intracellular Gag viral protein, irrespective of HIV-2 coreceptor tropism and cell differentiation stage, in agreement with the low viral load in culture supernatants. Our data show that HIV-2 is able to infect the human thymus, but the HIV-2 replication cycle in thymocytes is impaired, providing a new model to identify therapeutic targets for viral replication control. IMPORTANCE: HIV-1 infects the thymus, leading to a decrease in CD4 T-cell production that contributes to the characteristic CD4 T-cell loss. HIV-2 infection is associated with a very low rate of progression to AIDS and is therefore considered a unique naturally occurring model of attenuated HIV disease. HIV-2-infected individuals feature low to undetectable plasma viral loads, in spite of the numbers of circulating infected T cells being similar to those found in patients infected with HIV-1. We assessed, for the first time, the direct impact of HIV-2 infection on the human thymus. We show that HIV-2 is able to infect the thymus but that the HIV-2 replication cycle in thymocytes is impaired. We propose that this system will be important to devise immunotherapies that target viral production, aiding the design of future therapeutic strategies for HIV control.

Severe influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 infection induces thymic atrophy through activating innate CD8(+)CD44(hi) T cells by upregulating IFN-γ.

Thymic atrophy has been described as a consequence of infection by several pathogens including highly pathogenic avian influenza virus and is induced through diverse mechanisms. However, whether influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 infection induces thymic atrophy and the mechanisms underlying this process have not been completely elucidated. Our results show that severe infection of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 led to progressive thymic atrophy and CD4+ CD8+ double-positive (DP) T-cells depletion due to apoptosis. The viruses were present in thymus, where they activated thymic innate CD8(+)CD44(hi) single-positive (SP) thymocytes to secrete a large amount of IFN-γ. Milder thymic atrophy was observed in innate CD8+ T-cell-deficient mice (C57BL/6J). Neutralization of IFN-γ could significantly rescue the atrophy, but peramivir treatment did not significantly alleviate thymic atrophy. In this study, we demonstrated that thymic innate CD8(+)CD44(hi) SP T-cells have critical roles in influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 infection-induced thymic atrophy through secreting IFN-γ. This exceptional mechanism might serve as a target for the prevention and treatment of thymic atrophy induced by influenza A(H1N1)pdm09.

Identification of apoptotic cells in the thymus of piglets infected with highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus.

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is an immunosuppressive disease that is characterized by respiratory distress and poor growth in piglets and by severe reproductive failure in sows. PRRS was first recognized in the 1990s in Europe and the United States. In 2006, highly pathogenic (HP)-PRRS caused enormous economic losses in China. Our previous studies demonstrated that the HP-PRRS virus (HP-PRRSV) induced the apoptosis of numerous thymocytes in infected piglets, leading to severe thymus atrophy. To further identify the subset of apoptotic cells in thymus of HP-PRRSV-infected piglets, different cell types, apoptotic cells, and HP-PRRSV were marked with the corresponding markers. Results of the colocalization demonstrated that the apoptotic cells were not infected by HP-PRRSV, and most of them were CD3(+) T cells. No apoptosis was observed in the epithelial cells, and only few CD14(+) cells were apoptotic. HP-PRRSV was only found in CD14(+) cells, and epithelial cells and CD3(+) cells were not infected by HP-PRRSV. This is the first study to report the apoptotic and infected cells in the thymuses of HP-PRRSV-infected piglets.

HIV restriction by APOBEC3 in humanized mice.

Innate immune restriction factors represent important specialized barriers to zoonotic transmission of viruses. Significant consideration has been given to their possible use for therapeutic benefit. The apolipoprotein B mRNA editing enzyme catalytic polypeptide 3 (APOBEC3) family of cytidine deaminases are potent immune defense molecules capable of efficiently restricting endogenous retroelements as well as a broad range of viruses including Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Hepatitis B virus (HBV), Human Papilloma virus (HPV), and Human T Cell Leukemia virus (HTLV). The best characterized members of this family are APOBEC3G (A3G) and APOBEC3F (A3F) and their restriction of HIV. HIV has evolved to counteract these powerful restriction factors by encoding an accessory gene designated viral infectivity factor (vif). Here we demonstrate that APOBEC3 efficiently restricts CCR5-tropic HIV in the absence of Vif. However, our results also show that CXCR4-tropic HIV can escape from APOBEC3 restriction and replicate in vivo independent of Vif. Molecular analysis identified thymocytes as cells with reduced A3G and A3F expression. Direct injection of vif-defective HIV into the thymus resulted in viral replication and dissemination detected by plasma viral load analysis; however, vif-defective viruses remained sensitive to APOBEC3 restriction as extensive G to A mutation was observed in proviral DNA recovered from other organs. Remarkably, HIV replication persisted despite the inability of HIV to develop resistance to APOBEC3 in the absence of Vif. Our results provide novel insight into a highly specific subset of cells that potentially circumvent the action of APOBEC3; however our results also demonstrate the massive inactivation of CCR5-tropic HIV in the absence of Vif.

Immature CD4+CD8+ thymocytes are preferentially infected by measles virus in human thymic organ cultures.

Cells of the human immune system are important target cells for measles virus (MeV) infection and infection of these cells may contribute to the immunologic abnormalities and immune suppression that characterize measles. The thymus is the site for production of naïve T lymphocytes and is infected during measles. To determine which populations of thymocytes are susceptible to MeV infection and whether strains of MeV differ in their ability to infect thymocytes, we used ex vivo human thymus organ cultures to assess the relative susceptibility of different subpopulations of thymocytes to infection with wild type and vaccine strains of MeV. Thymocytes were susceptible to MeV infection with the most replication in immature CD4(+)CD8(+) double positive cells. Susceptibility correlated with the level of expression of the MeV receptor CD150. Wild type strains of MeV infected thymocytes more efficiently than the Edmonston vaccine strain. Thymus cultures from children ≥3 years of age were less susceptible to MeV infection than cultures from children 5 to 15 months of age. Resistance in one 7 year-old child was associated with production of interferon-gamma suggesting that vaccination may result in MeV-specific memory T cells in the thymus. We conclude that immature thymocytes are susceptible to MeV infection and thymocyte infection may contribute to the immunologic abnormalities associated with measles.

Foxp4 is dispensable for T cell development, but required for robust recall responses.

Transcription factors regulate T cell fates at every stage of development and differentiation. Members of the Foxp family of forkhead transcription factors are essential for normal T lineage development; Foxp3 is required for T regulatory cell generation and function, and Foxp1 is necessary for generation and maintenance of naïve T cells. Foxp4, an additional member of the Foxp family, is highly homologous to Foxp1 and has been shown to dimerize with other Foxp proteins. We report the initial characterization of Foxp4 in T lymphocytes. Foxp4 is expressed in both thymocytes and peripheral CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells. We used a CD4Cre mediated approach to evaluate the cell autonomous role for Foxp4 in murine T lymphocytes. T cell development, peripheral cellularity and cell surface phenotype are normal in the absence of Foxp4. Furthermore, Foxp3(+) T regulatory cells develop normally in Foxp4 deficient animals and naïve Foxp4 deficient CD4 T cells can differentiate to inducible T regulatory cells in vitro. In wild-type T cells, expression of Foxp4 increases following activation, but deletion of Foxp4 does not affect T cell proliferative responses or in vitro effector T cell differentiation. In vivo, despite effective control of Toxoplasma gondii and acute lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infections, effector cytokine production during antigen specific recall responses are reduced in the absence of Foxp4. We conclude that Foxp4 is dispensable for T cell development, but necessary for normal T cell cytokine recall responses to antigen following pathogenic infection.

Nef functions in BLT mice to enhance HIV-1 replication and deplete CD4+CD8+ thymocytes.

BACKGROUND: The outcome of untreated HIV-1 infection is progression to AIDS and death in nearly all cases. Some important exceptions are the small number of patients infected with HIV-1 deleted for the accessory gene, nef. With these infections, disease progression is entirely suppressed or greatly delayed. Whether Nef is critical for high levels of replication or is directly cytotoxic remains controversial. The major problem in determining the role of Nef in HIV/AIDS has been the lack of tractable in vivo models where Nef's complex pathogenic phenotype can be recapitulated. RESULTS: Intravenous inoculation (3000 to 600,000 TCIU) of BLT humanized mice with HIV-1LAI reproducibly establishes a systemic infection. HIV-1LAI (LAI) replicates to high levels (peak viral load in blood 8,200,000 ± 1,800,000 copies of viral RNA/ml, range 3,600,000 to 20,400,000; n = 9) and exhaustively depletes CD4+ T cells in blood and tissues. CD4+CD8+ thymocytes were also efficiently depleted but CD4+CD8- thymocytes were partially resistant to cell killing by LAI. Infection with a nef-deleted LAI (LAINefdd) gave lower peak viral loads (1,220,000 ± 330,000, range 27,000 to 4,240,000; n = 17). For fourteen of seventeen LAINefdd-infected mice, there was little to no loss of either CD4+ T cells or thymocytes. Both LAI- and LAINefdd-infected mice had about 8% of total peripheral blood CD8+ T cells that were CD38+HLA-DR+ compared <1% for uninfected mice. Three exceptional LAINefdd-infected mice that lost CD4+ T cells received 600,000 TCIU. All three exhibited peak viral loads over 3,000,000 copies of LAINefdd RNA/ml. Over an extended time course, substantial systemic CD4+ T cell loss was observed for the three mice, but there was no loss of CD4+CD8+ or CD4+CD8- thymocytes. CONCLUSION: We conclude Nef is necessary for elevated viral replication and as a result indirectly contributes to CD4+ T cell killing. Further, Nef was not necessary for the activation of peripheral blood CD8+ T cells following infection. However, CD4+CD8+ thymocyte killing was dependent on Nef even in cases of elevated LAINefdd replication and T cell loss. This depletion of thymic T cell precursors may be a significant factor in the elevated pathogenicity of CXCR4 trophic HIV-1.

Evaluation of the in vitro antiretroviral potential of some Biginelli-type pyrimidines.

Despite the success of highly active antiretroviral therapy, AIDS still remains as one of the most important world health problems. Toxicity of current available drugs and inevitable emergence of multi-drug resistant strains makes things worse. In the present study a series of novel Biginelli-type pyrimidine compounds were evaluated as potential anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 agents using green fluorescence protein (GFP) reporter single round HIV-1 infection assay. The rate of infected cells was monitored by flowcytometry. The effect of compounds on the cellular proliferation was considered as the cyotoxicity. The anti-HIV-1 active compounds were selected for HIV-1 replication and syncytium formation assays. The antiretroviral activity of compounds was measured against luciferase reporter A murine leukemia virus (AMLV) virions as the retrovirus control. Compounds 2, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 20, and 21 were the most potent against HIV-1. Compound 8 had the 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 100 nmol/l for inhibiting HIV-1 replication and 50% cytotoxic concentration (CC50) was up to 100 µmol/l (therapeutic index (TI) >1000). Results show that the active compounds were able to inhibit the retrovirus control as well. Analysis of structure of the studied compounds proved relationships with their anti-HIV-1 effects. Some of the studied compounds seem to be promising anti-HIV-1 drug candidates. Structural manipulation based on the well-defined structure-activity relationships might propose some new leads for anti-HIV-1 drug discovery programs.

Immunology in the clinic review series; focus on type 1 diabetes and viruses: enterovirus, thymus and type 1 diabetes pathogenesis.

Thymus dysfunction, especially immune suppression, is frequently associated with various virus infections. Whether viruses may disturb the thymus function and play a role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases is an open issue. Enteroviruses, especially Coxsackievirus B4 (CV-B4), have been largely suggested as potential inducers or aggravating factors of type 1 diabetes (T1D) pathogenesis in genetically predisposed individuals. Several pathogenic mechanisms of enterovirus-induced T1D have been suggested. One of these mechanisms is the impairment of central self-tolerance due to viral infections. Coxsackievirus-B4 is able to infect murine thymus in vitro and in vivo and to infect human thymus in vitro. Thymic epithelial cells and thymocytes are targets of infection with this virus, and several abnormalities, especially disturbance of maturation/differentiation processes, were observed. Altogether, these data suggest that CV-B infection of thymus may be involved in the pathogenesis of T1D. Further investigations are needed to explore this hypothesis.

Preexposure prophylaxis with albumin-conjugated C34 peptide HIV-1 fusion inhibitor in SCID-hu Thy/Liv mice.

PC-1505 is a C34 peptide derived from the heptad repeat 2 region of HIV-1 gp41 conjugated to human serum albumin for sustained in vivo activity. One single preexposure dose of PC-1505 reduced viral RNA in HIV-1-infected SCID-hu Thy/Liv mice by 3.3 log10 and protected T cells from virus-mediated depletion. In contrast, a single preexposure dose of Truvada reduced viral RNA by only 0.8 log10 and was substantially less effective in preventing T cell depletion.

RING domain mutations uncouple TRIM5α restriction of HIV-1 from inhibition of reverse transcription and acceleration of uncoating.

Rhesus TRIM5α (TRIM5α(rh)) is a cytosolic protein that potently restricts HIV-1 at an early postentry stage, prior to reverse transcription. The ability of TRIM5α(rh) to block HIV-1 infection has been correlated with a decrease of pelletable HIV-1 capsid during infection. To genetically dissect the ability of TRIM5α to block reverse transcription, we studied a set of TRIM5α(rh) RING domain mutants that potently restrict HIV-1 but allow the occurrence of reverse transcription. These TRIM5α(rh) RING variants blocked HIV-1 infection after reverse transcription but prior to integration, as suggested by the routing of nuclear viral DNA to circularization in the form of 2-long terminal repeat (2-LTR) circles. The folding of RING domain variants was similar to that of the wild type, as evaluated by nuclear magnetic resonance. RING domain changes that allowed the occurrence of reverse transcription were impaired in their ability to decrease the amount of pelletable capsid compared with wild-type TRIM5α. Similar effects of this particular group of mutations were observed with human TRIM5α inhibition of N-tropic murine leukemia virus (N-MLV). Interestingly, TRIM5α(rh) RING domain variants also prevented the degradation of TRIM5α(rh) that occurs following cell entry of HIV-1. These data correlated the block of reverse transcription with the ability of TRIM5α to accelerate uncoating. Collectively, these results suggest that TRIM5α(rh) blocks HIV-1 reverse transcription by inducing premature viral uncoating in target cells.

Efnb1 and Efnb2 proteins regulate thymocyte development, peripheral T cell differentiation, and antiviral immune responses and are essential for interleukin-6 (IL-6) signaling.

Erythropoietin-producing hepatocellular kinases (Eph kinases) constitute the largest family of cell membrane receptor tyrosine kinases, and their ligand ephrins are also cell surface molecules. Because of promiscuous interaction between Ephs and ephrins, there is considerable redundancy in this system, reflecting the essential roles of these molecules in the biological system through evolution. In this study, both Efnb1 and Efnb2 were null-mutated in the T cell compartment of mice through loxP-mediated gene deletion. Mice with this double conditional mutation (double KO mice) showed reduced thymus and spleen size and cellularity. There was a significant decrease in the DN4, double positive, and single positive thymocyte subpopulations and mature CD4 and CD8 cells in the periphery. dKO thymocytes and peripheral T cells failed to compete with their WT counterparts in irradiated recipients, and the T cells showed compromised ability of homeostatic expansion. dKO naive T cells were inferior in differentiating into Th1 and Th17 effectors in vitro. The dKO mice showed diminished immune response against LCMV infection. Mechanistic studies revealed that IL-6 signaling in dKO T cells was compromised, in terms of abated induction of STAT3 phosphorylation upon IL-6 stimulation. This defect likely contributed to the observed in vitro and in vivo phenotype in dKO mice. This study revealed novel roles of Efnb1 and Efnb2 in T cell development and function.

HTLV-1 propels thymic human T cell development in "human immune system" Rag2⁻/⁻ gamma c⁻/⁻ mice.

Alteration of early haematopoietic development is thought to be responsible for the onset of immature leukemias and lymphomas. We have previously demonstrated that Tax(HTLV-1) interferes with ß-selection, an important checkpoint of early thymopoiesis, indicating that human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infection has the potential to perturb thymic human αß T-cell development. To verify that inference and to clarify the impact of HTLV-1 infection on human T-cell development, we investigated the in vivo effects of HTLV-1 infection in a "Human Immune System" (HIS) Rag2⁻/⁻γ(c)⁻/⁻ mouse model. These mice were infected with HTLV-1, at a time when the three main subpopulations of human thymocytes have been detected. In all but two inoculated mice, the HTLV-1 provirus was found integrated in thymocytes; the proviral load increased with the length of the infection period. In the HTLV-1-infected mice we observed alterations in human T-cell development, the extent of which correlated with the proviral load. Thus, in the thymus of HTLV-1-infected HIS Rag2⁻/⁻γc⁻/⁻ mice, mature single-positive (SP) CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ cells were most numerous, at the expense of immature and double-positive (DP) thymocytes. These SP cells also accumulated in the spleen. Human lymphocytes from thymus and spleen were activated, as shown by the expression of CD25: this activation was correlated with the presence of tax mRNA and with increased expression of NF-kB dependent genes such as bfl-1, an anti-apoptotic gene, in thymocytes. Finally, hepato-splenomegaly, lymphadenopathy and lymphoma/thymoma, in which Tax was detected, were observed in HTLV-1-infected mice, several months after HTLV-1 infection. These results demonstrate the potential of the HIS Rag2⁻/⁻γ(c)⁻/⁻ animal model to elucidate the initial steps of the leukemogenic process induced by HTLV-1.

Chicken infectious anaemia vaccinal strain persists in the spleen and thymus of young chicks and induces thymic lymphoid cell disorders.

The chicken infectious anaemia virus (CIAV) infection may induce immunosuppression and persistent infection. The use of vaccination in young chicks is still controversial due to its low immune efficiency. In order to verify the viral persistency of a vaccinal strain of CIAV and its associated-lymphoid cell disorders, 54 1-day-old specific pathogen free chicks were vaccinated (CIAV-VAC(®); Intervet, Millsboro, Delaware, USA) and haematologic examination, expression of viral VP3 gene, humoral response and phenotyping of lymphoid cells were studied in lymphoid organs at various times post vaccination (p.v.). No clinical signs were observed but light heteropaenia was detected in CIAV-vaccinated chicks. The VP3 gene of CIAV was detected by polymerase chain reaction in the thymus and spleen from day 7 until 28 days p.v. Thymic larger CD4(+)CD8(+) cells increased only at 7 days p.v. while smaller CD4(+)CD8(+) cells decreased after 14 and 28 days in CIAV-vaccinated birds. The CD4 expression, in contrast to that seen for CD8, decreased in thymocytes from the CIAV-vaccinated group. In the spleen and bursa, the percentage of CD8(+) cells increased at 7 and 28 days p.v. only, while CD4(+) cells decreased simultaneously. The vaccinated chicks also exhibited a higher number of splenic CD3(-)CD8(+) cells (natural killer cells). The anti-CIAV antibody responses, however, remained low in most vaccinated chicks and did not persist up to 18 days p.v. These results suggest that the vaccinal virus strain is clinically attenuated but persists in the thymus and spleen in some birds, inducing a low humoral immune response and altering thymopoiesis.