Loss of naïve (CD45RA+) CD4+ lymphocytes during pediatric infection with feline immunodeficiency virus.

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection of cats is an animal model for the pathogenesis of CD4+ lymphopenia and thymus dysfunction in HIV-infected humans. Recently, a monoclonal antibody (755) was reported to recognize the feline homologue to CD45RA, allowing the enumeration of naïve T cells in cats. We tested the hypothesis that pediatric FIV infection would be associated with a selective loss of naïve CD4+ lymphocytes by inoculating newborn cats with a pathogenic clone of FIV (JSY3) or a related clone with an inactive ORF-A gene (JSY3-DeltaORFA), and compared the data to age-matched uninfected control cats. Both FIV inocula were associated with a reduction in the CD4-CD8 ratio (p=0.01), which was attributable to a disproportionate loss of naïve CD4+ cells (p=0.01) vs. naïve CD8+ cells. Therefore, the reduced CD4:CD8 ratio in FIV-infected juvenile cats is associated with a selective depletion of naïve CD4+ cells from the blood.

Immunopathogenesis of feline immunodeficiency virus infection in the fetal and neonatal cat.

The global incidence of pediatric HIV infection is estimated at 2.3 million children, most acquiring the infection from their mothers in utero, peripartum, or postpartum. Pediatric HIV infection typically causes a rapidly progressive disease when compared with adult infection, due in part to the profound susceptibility of the neonatal thymus to productive infection or degenerative changes. Failed production of naive T-lymphocytes further limits the success of antiviral therapy to restore immunologic function. In this review, we explore the use of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection of domestic cats as an animal model for pediatric HIV infection. Cats infected with FIV represent the smallest host of a naturally occurring lentivirus, and the immunodeficiency syndrome elicited by FIV infection is similar to that of HIV-AIDS. The feline-FIV model uniquely reproduces several key aspects of immunosuppressive lentivirus infection of the thymus, allowing investigators to define viral determinants of pathogenicity, influence of host age on disease outcome, and therapeutic strategies to restore thymus function.

Characterization of a monoclonal antibody identifying a CD45RA antigen on feline leukocytes.

The antibody produced by a murine hybridoma obtained from the fusion of SP2/0 plasmacytoma cells with splenocytes of a mouse immunized with feline bone marrow was found to react with 60% of bone marrow cells and 80% of peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL); reactivity in the latter tissue was restricted almost entirely to mononuclear cells. Two-color FACScan analyses of this antibody with mAbs specific for feline lymphocytes revealed positive and negative populations of CD4 and CD8 cells. The reactivity for CD4 and CD8 cells was animal age dependent, binding to a higher percentage of the cells in young (2-9 months) versus older animals (> 4 years). In a mitogen driven assay for IgG production by PBL the addition of this antibody to the cultures enhanced the suppressor activity of CD8 cells, a function attributed to activation of a CD4 suppressor-inducer population; removal of CD8 cells negated any induction of suppression. Mild papain digestion of bone marrow and PBL completely removed the antigen detected by this antibody while not affecting reactivity of a pan-T antibody. Western blot analysis showed binding of the antibody to polypeptides of approximately 200 kDa on feline bone marrow and PBL. The data suggest that this mAb is identifying the feline homologue of the leukocyte common antigen of cells with a functional specificity characteristic of a CD45RA isoform.

Hematopoiesis in the feline fetal liver: an assessment by flow cytometry.

The domestic cat is an excellent model for the development of therapeutic protocols that target hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) because it is relatively resistant to complications related to bone marrow transplantation. To identify a plentiful source of HSC that could be used as targets for gene transduction and transplantation, the livers of 28 mid-gestation fetuses (28-52 days) and late-gestation fetuses (53 days-term) were analyzed for erythroid, myeloid, lymphoid, and uncommitted hematopoietic progenitor cells by flow cytometry. We found that the fetal liver mononuclear cells (FLMCs) contained 57% erythroid progenitors during mid-gestation, but this percentage declined to 43% as gestation progressed. Myelomonocytic cells within FLMC were more numerous in late-gestation (31%) than in mid-gestation (18%). Two monoclonal antibodies (mAb), CH 152 and CH 755, which recognize cells with the potential to reconstitute multilineage hematopoiesis in cats, were tested. Approximately, 32% of FLMC from late-gestation fetuses expressed the epitope recognized by mAb CH 152, a significant increase above the 12% positive cells in mid-gestation fetuses. Approximately, 33% of hepatic mononuclear cells expressed the epitope recognized by mAb CH 755 in both mid-term and late-term fetuses. When expressed in absolute numbers, medians of 2.7 x 10(7) CH 152-positive cells and 3.2 x 10(7) CH 755-positive cells were extracted from the late-term fetal livers of individual cats. T-lymphocytes were a minor component (<3%) of FLMC, despite their presence in the thymus and spleen. These data suggest that the late-term feline fetal liver is a suitable source of mutipotential hematopoietic cells that could be used for gene therapy protocols in the cat.

Erythrocyte-rosetting properties of feline blood lymphocytes and their relationship to monoclonal antibodies to T lymphocytes.

Rosette formation of feline peripheral blood leukocytes with guinea pig (GP) and gerbil (G) erythrocytes (E) has been shown in an earlier study to identify T lymphocytes expressing helper and suppressor cell activity, respectively. This T lymphocyte distinction was based on the removal of the E-rosetting populations from peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) and the subsequent functional evaluation of the remaining cells in a pokeweed mitogen (PWM)-induced synthesis of immunoglobulin (Ig). In the present study, we demonstrate a direct helper and suppressor function of GPE- and GE-rosetted cells, respectively, wherein the induction of Ig synthesis is altered in a positive or negative way by the addition of the cells to a control target population. A pan-T monoclonal antibody (mAb), CT843, and mAbs to the CD4 (CT248) and CD8 (CT87) subsets are also described; their specificities are established in functional assays, the PWM-induced Ig synthesis and the production of interleukin-2 following Concanavalin A stimulation of PBL, and a biochemical analysis of the surface membrane antigens detected by the mAbs. Immunoprecipitation and SDS-PAGE analyses showed CT248 to react with a approximately 60-kDa protein under both reducing and nonreducing conditions. Under reducing conditions, CT87 reacted with one subunit at approximately 35 kDa; a second faint band at approximately 39 kDa was poorly resolved. mAb CT843 detected a heterodimer of approximately 70 and approximately 60 kDa under both reducing and nonreducing conditions. The relationship of the mAbs to E-rosetting was examined in FACScan analyses and rosette inhibition studies. The percentage of GE-rosetting cells agreed with the percentage of cells stained with the CD8 mAb, whereas a comparison of GPE-rosetting and staining with the CD4 mAb showed variability. The binding of GE to PBL was blocked by pretreatment of PBL with the CD8 mAb, whereas no inhibition of GPE rosettes was observed with any of the mAbs. In a previous study, we had shown that an overnight culture of feline PBL at 37 degrees C leads to the development of a second population of GPE-rosetting cells, also having a helper function. The relationship of the two GPE-rosetting populations to the CD4 mAb, CT248, was examined in rosette depletion studies and FACScan analyses. It was found that depletion of the GPE-rosetting cells from fresh, i.e., Day 0 cells, removed only a small percentage of cells reactive with the CD4 mAb, whereas GPE-rosette depletions performed on Day 1 PBL, which contained both populations of GPE-rosetting cells, removed almost all cells reactive with this antibody. The latter study suggests that the GPE-rosetting phenomenon is detecting two subsets of CD4 cells with T helper function, those present in fresh blood and those acquiring the GPE receptor after an overnight culture.