Download Slow Virus Replication: the Role of Macrophages in the Persistence

J. gen. Virol. (1982), 59, 345-356.
Printed in Great Britain
345
Key words: visna/macrophage/virus persistence
Slow Virus Replication: the Role of Macrophages in the Persistence and
Expression of Visna Viruses of Sheep and Goats
By O P E N D R A N A R A Y A N , * J E R R Y S. W O L I N S K Y ,
J A N I C E E. C L E M E N T S , J O H N D. S T R A N D B E R G ,
D I A N E E. G R I F F I N AND L I N D A C. C O R K
Departments of Neurology, Pathology, Medicine and Comparative Medicine, The Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, U.S.A.
(Accepted 9 November 1981)
SUMMARY
Lentiviruses of sheep and goats cause slowly progressive diseases of the central
nervous system (visna), lungs (maedi) and joints (arthritis) in their natural hosts.
However, the virus target cell(s) in these diseases are still unknown. In this report,
using laboratory-adapted Icelandic visna virus and several field strains recently
obtained from sheep and goats with natural disease in the U.S.A., we show that
macrophages became persistently infected when inoculated in culture. Furthermore,
macrophages were an invariable source of virus from experimentally and naturally
infected animals. Virus-producing macrophages developed minimal cytopathic
changes and virus assembly occurred mainly intracellularly, accumulating in
cytoplasmic vacuoles. In contrast to macrophages, sheep choroid plexus fibroblasts
developed syncytial cytopathic changes after inoculation and virus maturation
occurred at the cell surfaces. Replication of the Icelandic virus was highly productive
in this system but that of the field viruses was very inefficient. In some cases these
agents failed to replicate in the fibroblasts and no cytopathic effect occurred. This
block in the field virus replication was, however, overcome when infected nonproducer fibroblasts were co-cultivated with macrophages. In these cases, virus
production with attendant cytopathic effect in the fibroblasts required the continuous
presence of macrophages because the cells reverted to a non-productive state when
separated from macrophages and became productive again when subcultures were
added to new macrophages. The roles of the macrophage as a virus target cell and
virus inducer in the virus-macrophage-fibroblast interactions are discussed with
inferences to the well-known phenomenon of restricted virus replication in infected
animals and the immunopathological aspects of the diseases.
INTRODUCTION
Visna and maedi are slowly progressive encephalitic and pneumonic diseases of sheep
caused by retroviruses (Thormar & Palsson, 1967; Lin & Thormar, 1970). The disease
complex was first described in Iceland where it has since been eradicated by slaughter
of affected sheep (Sigurdardottir & Thormar, 1964). Viruses from Icelandic cases have
been maintained in the laboratory and subpassaged multiple times through sheep and sheep
cell cultures. These laboratory-adapted strains of visna virus have been used for studies
of pathogenesis of the disease (Petursson et al., 1976; Griffin et al., 1978), antigenic drift
(Narayan et al., 1978, 1981; Clements et al., 1980a) and in vitro replication (Haase &
Varmus, 1973; Brahic & Haase, 1978; Clements et al., 1979). Recently, visna-maedi disease
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in sheep has been recognized in many parts of the world (De Boer, 1975; Cutlip & Laird,
1976; Dukes et al., 1979; Dawson, 1980; Sheffield et al., 1980) and a visna-like
encephalitis-arthritis complex in goats (Cork et al., 1974) was identified on a farm in the
United States. A few of these viruses have been isolated and shown to share antigenic
determinants with the Icelandic visna-maedi viruses (Narayan et al., 1980; Clements et al.,
1980b; Dahlberg et al., 1981).
Tissue culture-adapted Icelandic visna viruses grow to high titre in fibroblastic cells derived
from the choroid plexus of sheep. The replication cycle is about 24 h and replication occurs
by means of a proviral DNA intermediate which integrates into the host cell DNA (Haase &
Varmus, 1973). Numerous copies of virus RNA are transcribed from this template and virus
maturation occurs at the cell membrane (Coward et al., 1970). Cytopathic effects consist of
multinucleated giant cell formation (fusion) which coincides with the period of peak virus
production. Cell fusion by the virus can, however, occur independently of virus replication
when virus is inoculated at multiplicities in excess of 10. This fusion occurs 'from without'
and can be recognized within 2 to 6 h by inoculation of cells with either live or inactivated
virus. Furthermore, cells which are incapable of supporting replication of the virus can be
fused (Harter & Choppin, 1967). This syncytial type of cytopathic effect is also characteristic
of the goat lentivirus infection of cell cultures (Narayan et al., 1980).
One of the enigmas of these virus infections of their animal hosts is that the cytopathic
effects described above are never seen in infected tissues in vivo. Specific virus target cells are
unknown, and neither exponential replication nor syncytia are seen in diseased target organs
(brain, lung and joints) (Georgsson et al., 1977; Cork & Narayan, 1980). Pathological
changes in these organs are associated with the cellular immune responses of the host
(Nathanson et al., 1976). After inoculation of the animal, virus replication commences and is
maintained at a minimal level in target tissues for months to years. Cell-free homogenates of
these tissues have very little infectivity for fibroblastic cell cultures. However, when the tissues
are explanted into culture, cellular outgrowths commence producing virus with concomitant
development of cytopathic effect in a similar manner to that seen when sheep choroid plexus
(SCP) cultures are inoculated with virus (Narayan et al., 1977).
In order to better understand the mechanisms of slow replication, we have used both the
tissue culture-adapted Icelandic visna virus K 1514 and local field isolate viruses to study their
replication in different target cells, specifically fibroblasts and macrophages, and to relate
these findings to target cells in the infected animal.
METHODS
Viruses. Virus K 1514 which has been used routinely in this laboratory (Narayan et al.,
1978) was used in this study as a reference Icelandic virus and cultivated in SCP fibroblasts.
Field isolates were obtained from several naturally infected sheep with clinical signs of
dyspnea, ataxia and arthritis, and from a congenitally infected goat. The viruses were
obtained from these animals by harvesting supernatant fluids either from cultures of blood
macrophages (see below) or from tissue explants. BL19 was obtained from macrophage
cultures of a 5-year-old Border Leicester sheep with pneumonia. Progressive pneumonia
viruses (PPV) 5 and 9 were derived from tissue explants of two sheep in Washington State.
These animals had ataxia, pneumonia and a previously unrecognized arthritic disease (Oliver
et al., 1981), and were kindly provided by Dr J. Gorham, U.S.D.A. Pullman, Wash., U.S.A.
COR virus i01 was obtained from lung explants of a 3-5-year-old Corriedale sheep with both
central nervous system and lung disease (Sheffield et al., 1980). COR virus 104 was obtained
from another Corriedale ewe of the same flock. This animal had only interstitial pneumonia.
SHROP virus was derived from blood macrophages of a 4-year-old Shropshire ewe with
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Visna viruses preferentially infect maerophages
347
severe interstitial pneumonia. The goat agent was obtained from cultured blood macrophages
of a congenitally infected Toggenberg kid.
Cell cultures
Fibroblastic cultures. SCP cell cultures, a fibroblastic cell line, were used to propagate
K1514 as described previously (Narayan et al., 1978). Goat synovial membrane cultures
(GSM) are used routinely to propagate the goat field virus. These latter cells have
macrophage-like properties in early subculture being phagocytic (Narayan et al., 1980) and
susceptible to carageenan toxicity (O. Narayan et al., unpublished results). Multiple
subcultivation of these cells gives rise to fibroblastic cells which, similar to SCP, are not
phagocytic and resist treatment with carageenan. Both GSM and the fibroblast cells were
used in this study.
Maerophage cultures. Macrophage cultures were derived from peripheral blood
leukocytes (PBL), lungs, spleen and/or lymph nodes of sheep and goats. PBL macrophage
cultures were obtained from heparinized blood from which mononuclear cells were purified
by centrifugation on Ficoll-Hypaque gradients. Alveolar macrophages were procured at
autopsy by trans-tracheal pulmonary lavage using heparinized Ca 2+, Mg2+-deficient Hanks'
salt solution. Macrophage suspensions from spleen and lymph nodes were prepared from
teased cell suspensions which were washed several times in Hanks' solution. All cell
preparations were suspended in RPMI 1640 medium + 20% autologous plasma or
heat-inactivated lamb serum and 60 mm 2 tissue culture dishes were seeded with either 1 x 106
alveolar cells or 1 x 107 cells of the other cell suspensions. Non-adherent cells were removed
from the cultures after 3 h incubation at 37 °C using three consecutive washes with Hanks'
solution. Medium was changed to RPMI 1640 + 1% lamb serum after macrophage
monolayers had formed, usually about 1 day for alveolar cells and 7 to 10 days for peripheral
blood cells. These adherent cells were shown to be macrophages by their morphology,
resistance to trypsinization and ability to phagocytose sheep red blood cells (SRBC)
sensitized with rabbit anti-SRBC serum.
Virus cultivation. Cultures of macrophages or fibroblasts in dishes were inoculated with
different dilutions of virus and incubated at 37 °C for 2 h. Monolayers were then washed and
maintenance medium replaced. Supernatant fluids from cultures were harvested at different
periods after inoculation and assayed for infectivity. Infectivity titres of the sheep field virus
suspensions were determined by inoculating normal macrophage cultures with 10-fold
dilutions of virus. After 10 days, sheep fibroblast cells were added to the cultures and
examined for fusion 7 to 10 days later. Assay of the goat virus in goat macrophage cultures
was performed similarly by addition of goat fibroblasts to inoculated macrophage cultures as
described above. Alternatively, supernatant fluids from these cultures were transferred to goat
synovial membrane cultures in which the virus replicates productively with attendant
cytopathic effect.
Electron microscopy. Alveolar macrophage cultures prepared from sheep infected with
K1514 and PPV5, as well as sheep macrophages inoculated in vitro with BL19 virus, were
selected for studies of virus morphogenesis. Fibroblast cells were also added to replicates of
these cultures. All cultures were fixed in situ with a solution of 1% paraformaldehyde and
1.25% glutaraldehyde, and processed for electron microscopy by previously detailed
techniques (Gilden et al., 1978).
Animal inoculations. Two 6-month-old Corriedale sheep were inoculated intracerebrally
with K1514, and two each with field viruses COR 101 and PPVS. Four young goats were
similarly inoculated with the goat field isolate. All inoculations were performed using surgical
procedures described previously (Narayan et al., 1978). Each animal was inoculated in both
cerebral hemispheres with 0.1 ml containing between 106 and l0 s TCIDs0 of the various
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agents. These animals were killed approx. 6 weeks post-inoculation and tissues examined for
virus content.
RESULTS
Comparison of replication of viruses infibroblasts and macrophages
The basic strategy of this experiment was to compare the efficiency of replication of the
field viruses with K1514 in SCP fibroblasts and sheep macrophage cell cultures. Agents
grown in macrophage cultures were titrated in fibroblasts and macrophage cultures, and these
were observed for development of cytopathic effect during the following 2 weeks. Fibroblasts
were then added to the macrophage cultures, which were observed for a further 7 to 10 days.
After one or more passages in fibroblastic cells, the viruses were also assayed for infectivity in
fibroblasts and sometimes in macrophage cultures. These results are shown in Table 1 and the
titres represent a range of at least three replicates for each assay.
It is evident that K1514 replicated to higher titres in fibroblast cultures than in
macrophages. However, both cell types seemed equally sensitive to the infection. K1514 also
differed in its cytopathic effects in the two cell types. Inoculation of SCP fibroblasts at
multiplicities in excess of 10 caused 'fusion from without' and degeneration within 24 h
without virus production. Inoculation at an m.o.i, of 5 resulted in maximum virus production
and cytopathic effect (fusion with stellate cell formation) by day 3. Inoculation at an m.o.i.
of 10-4 resulted in a delay of both cytopathic effect and virus yield. However, these cultures
eventually produced as much infectious virus by day 10 as the preceding cultures inoculated
at higher multiplicities. At peak production the K1514 virus yield was approx. 10 7
TCIDs0/ml of supernatant fluid. These virus titres fell precipitously as cell death from
cytopathic effect progressed.
In contrast to fibroblasts, macrophages did not 'fuse from without' regardless of the
m.o.i, of K1514. At high m.o.i. (100), the cells frequently died by day 10 post-inoculation
although supernatant fluids never had more than 104 fibroblast TCIDs0. At lower
m.o.i.s, these cultures did not develop cytopathic effects but continued to produce a constant
amount of infectivity of 103 to 104 fibroblast TCIDs0/ml for up to 3 weeks post-inoculation.
Addition of fibroblasts to these inoculated macrophages resulted in massive cytopathic effect
within a few days and amplification of virus titres to levels seen after direct inoculation of the
fibroblast cells.
Replication of thefield viruses
Similarly to K1514, none of these viruses caused cytopathic effect in macrophage cultures
after inoculation at multiplicities of 1 or less. However, they all replicated to titres of 105 to
106 macrophage TCIDso/ml in these cultures and these levels of infectivity were maintained
in supernatant fluids for up to 3 weeks post-inoculation. The infectivity titres were ascertained
from the fusion of fibroblasts added to dishes of macrophages which had previously been
inoculated with 10-fold dilutions of supernatant fluid.
Although fibroblasts underwent fusion after addition to infected macrophages, the direct
inoculation of fibroblast cultures with the field viruses did not always cause cytopathic effects
(Fig. 1). Titration of these agents in fibroblast cultures showed that the viruses either failed to
replicate in the fibroblasts or did so only when inoculated at high multiplicities (1 to 10)
(Table 1). In many cases, passage of infectious supernatant fluids through the fibroblast
cultures resulted in further reduction of virus yield or even loss of infectivity in supernatant
fluids, as determined by assay in the macrophage-fibroblast system. Electron microscopic
examination of these fibroblasts did not show any evidence of virus infection and tests for
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:,(
;ZPpi 7
CP 4~ l"
, i
Fig. 1. Morphological responses of fibroblasts and macrophages to infection with field viruses. (a)
Fibroblasts inoculated with BL19 virus with no cytopathic effect. (b) Macrophages inoculated with
BL19 virus with no cytopathic effect. (c) Co-culture of normal macrophages and fibroblasts with no
cytopathic effect. (d) Co-culture of normal macrophages with infected fibroblasts shown in (a) with
resultant fusion of the latter. Phase-contrast microscopy; all bar markers represent 50/an.
Comparison of the replication of Icelandic visna and field isolate viruses in fibroblastic (F) and macrophage (M~) cultures respectively, after cultivation in each of the two
cell types*
T a b l e 1.
Virus titre (TCIDso/ml)
after assay in'i"
A
Virus
Host cell culture
(F
K1514
~
BL19
FM~
PPV5
FM~
(F
~
F
M~
F
" M~
~F
M~
F
M~
PPV9
COR 101
COR 104
SHROP V
Goat (GLV)
Fibroblasts
M~
106-107
103_104
N~--10
10
10_103
10_103
10_102
10_103
N-IO 2
102
N--10
103
102
i02-104
N-102
10-104
106
103_104
10
l0 s
103
106
105
l0 s
10s
106
N- 102
106
* Tenfold dilutions of each suspension were inoculated on replicates of each culture. Inoculated fibroblasts
were examined directly for cytopathic effect and macrophages assessed by development of fusion of fibroblasts
which were added after virus inoculation.
Titres are reported as 50% endpoint dilutions causing cytopathic effects.
$ N, Negative result.
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Z
Z
0
0
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Visna viruses preferentially infect macrophages
Table 2.
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Macrophage (M~) dependence offield virus expression infibroblasts (F)*
Parental M~ + Finfected co-culture
Fusion
4+
Virus titre 105
r
P1
4+
102
F subculturet
'~
P2
P3
P4
2+
s$
N
N
N
N
P4 + M~
4+
104
* Fibroblasts added to BL19-infected macrophages underwent extensive fusion (4 +: syncytia in every microscopic field).
t The fibroblasts were subcultured four times successively and each subculture examined for virus content
in the supernatant fluid and cytopathic effect in the cells. Note lack of both from P2 onward. Virus activation
with attendant cytopathie effect developed after P4 cells were added to normal macrophages.
$ N, Negative result.
reverse transcriptase activity in supernatant fluids (as performed in a previous study,
N a r a y a n et al., 1980) were negative, even after 100-fold concentration of the fluids by
ultracentrifugation (data not shown). The evidence therefore points to a minimal or a
non-productive infection in the fibroblasts. However, addition of these inoculated nonproducer fibroblasts to normal macrophage cultures resulted in prompt fusion of, and virus
production by, the fibroblasts. Furthermore, progeny cells of the non-producer fibroblasts,
after four consecutive subcultivations at dilutions of 1:4, still underwent fusion with
production of 104 TCIDs0/ml after co-cultivation with normal macrophages. Representative
cultures are shown in Fig. 2. Macrophages, therefore, seemed indispensable for the expression
of virus and induction of cytopathic effect in fibroblasts, although it is evident that
non-productive infection could readily occur by direct inoculation of fibroblasts with virus.
Whether virus-producing fibroblasts required the continuous presence of macrophages for
virus expression was determined in two experiments. First, a series of macrophage cultures
was inoculated with BL19 virus and incubated for 5 days. Supernatant fluids from these
cultures had approx. 10 ~ macrophage TCIDs0/ml but failed to cause cytopathic effect in
fibroblasts. One of the macrophage cultures was irradiated with u.v. light and fibroblasts were
then added to this as well as the unirradiated dishes. Syncytial formation of fibroblasts
commenced in all the co-cultures within 4 h after addition to the macrophages. These early
syncytia with about six to eight nuclei gradually enlarged during the following 10 days to
giant cells containing 50 to 100 nuclei. Fibroblasts added to the irradiated macrophages
developed the early fusion but this did not progress to the large syncytia which developed in
unirradiated infected macrophages. Co-cultivation of normal fibroblasts with uninfected
macrophages did not result in fusion.
The second experiment took advantage of the resistance of macrophages to trypsinization.
Fibroblasts with extensive syncytial formation in an infected macrophage-fibroblast
co-culture were subcultured to determine whether they would continue producing virus in the
absence of macrophages. These fibroblasts (passage 1, P1) were seeded in two flasks, one of
which was maintained for 6 weeks. The other was subcultured again into two flasks (P2) at
approx. 20-day intervals when the cells had reached confluence. At P4 the cells were then
added back to a normal macrophage culture as shown in Table 2. Nearly all the cells in the
P 1 culture were involved in syncytia at the time they were plated. However, at 6 weeks most
Fig. 2. Ultrastructural appearance of a sheep macrophage which had been inoculated in culture 7 days
previously with BL19 virus. Approx. 10% of all cells viewed by electron microscopy contained virus
particles. Most particles were located within smooth membrane vacuoles which were either multiple (a)
or single (c) for individual macrophages. The intricate arrangement of the vacuoles from the
macrophage shown in (a) is seen in detail in (b). Bar markers represent 5/tm. 1 gm and 0.5 #m in (a),
(b) and (c) respectively.
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O. N A R A Y A N
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Fig. 3. Multiple examples of virus maturation by budding at the surface of a sheep choroid plexus cell
fibroblast, seen when SPC cells were co-cultivated with cultures of infected macrophages. Bar marker
represents 0.1 gm.
of the syncytia had been replaced by cells with single nuclei and infectivity of the
supernatant fluid had decreased from 105 to 10 2 macrophage TCIDs0/ml. Approx. 50% of
the P2 cells were involved in syncytia at 20 days but no infectivity was found in the
supernatant fluid. Cultures at P3 and P4 lacked syncytia and had no infectivity in their
supernatant fluids. Replacement of the supernatant fluid from a P4 culture with that from an
uninfected macrophage culture failed to induce virus production during a 10 day observation
period. However, addition of P4 cells to normal macrophages resulted in typical fusion and
virus production by the fibroblasts. These experiments showed that fibroblasts could be
infected with virus but virus expression was dependent on the presence of macrophages. The
latter cells were not only indispensable for the initiation of expression of virus by fibroblasts,
but also had to be present constantly for continuation of virus production.
There was no obvious functional defect in any of the infected macrophage cells since they
all readily phagocytosed antibody-coated red blood cells.
Virus recovery from infected animals
In all cases virus cytopathic effect was identified when PBL from infected sheep and goats
were co-cultivated with the fibroblast cells. Cell-free tissue homogenates of spleen, lung,
lymph node and brain did not cause cytopathic effect in fibroblasts. However, explants of all
these tissues developed cytopathic effects. These results thus confirmed previous findings of
minimal amounts of free virus in infected tissues and the 'activation' of virus by explantation
(Petursson et al., 1976; Narayan et al., 1977; Cork & Narayan, 1980).
Non-adherent ceils from PBL did not have infectivity for macrophages or fibroblasts from
either of the two species. None of the macrophage cultures derived from PBL, spleen, lung
and lymph node of the infected animals developed cytopathic effect. However, these cells
produced virus continuously during a 3 week observation period. The levels of infectivity in
the supernatant fluids of the cultures closely resembled those of macrophage cultures
inoculated in vitro (Table 1).
Ultrastructural observations
Three types of cultures were examined by electron microscopy: (i) cultured alveolar
macrophages from a sheep infected with PPV5; (ii) PBL-derived macrophages obtained from
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Visna viruses preferentially infect m a c r o p h a g e s
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a normal sheep and infected in culture with BL19 virus; (iii) a BL19-infected macrophagefibroblast co-culture in which the fibroblasts had undergone fusion. Examination of the
macrophages from all three types showed that only a small proportion of the cells contained
virus particles. These cells had no evidence of cytopathic changes although virions in variably
sized vacuoles were often found widely distributed in the cytoplasm (Fig. 2a to e).
Occasionally, virions were recognized in the process of budding from the membrane of the
vacuoles. Notably, no virus maturation was seen at the cell membrane of these macrophages.
In the macrophage-fibroblast co-culture, the intracellular location of virions in the
macrophages was the same as that seen in pure cultures of infected macrophages. However,
numerous morphologically intact virions were seen at and budding from the surface of the
fibroblasts (Fig. 3).
DISCUSSION
This study shows that the ovine-caprine lentiviruses, which cause slow diseases in different
organ systems of their natural hosts, preferentially infect and replicate in macrophages,
causing non-cytopathic, persistent infections of these cells. The combination of this low-grade
productive infection of macrophages with a non-productive infection of a non-macrophage
cell type provides a good parallel for restricted virus replication in the animal and may be the
key to understanding the phenomenon of this 'slow infection'. The results agree with, and
partially explain our previous finding that all virus genomes are not expressed in tissue cells of
inoculated sheep (Haase et al., 1977). This concept has been reconfirmed and extended in
subsequent studies by Brahic & Haase (1978) and Brahic et al. (1981) in which restriction of
the virus life-cycle in certain brain cells of intracerebraUy inoculated sheep occurs at the level
of transcription of the virus RNA.
Although prototype Icelandic visna virus K 1514 causes rapid cytolysis of fibroblasts, its
replication in the animal was mirrored by its replication in macrophage cultures in which
relatively small quantities of virus were produced for a long period without cytopathology.
This suggests that the virulence of this virus for fibroblasts may be the result of
cultivation-selection in vitro for a cytopathic virus and may have little relevance to the events
in the infected animal. The use of field isolate viruses from natural cases of infection probably
provides a more accurate reflection of the mechanisms underlying this persistent infection.
The preferential replication of the field viruses in macrophages and the non-cytopathic nature
of this infection may provide an ideal mechanism for virus persistence in the animal since
clearance by the reticuloendothelial system is effectively subverted. In this respect these
ovine-caprine tentiviruses share a common pathway for persistent infection with a number of
other viruses which also infect macrophages. These viruses include other retroviruses such as
the agent of equine infectious anaemia (Crawford et al., 1978), avian leukosis (Gazzolo et al.,
1979) and Friend virus-induced erythroleukaemia (Marcelletti & Furmanski, 1979); certain
of the flaviviruses, including West Nile virus (Peiris & Porterfietd, 1979), and dengue viruses
(Halstead, 1979); Aleutian disease virus of mink (Porter et al., 1980), lactic dehydrogenase
virus (Rowson & Mahy, 1975) and African swine fever virus (Coggins, 1974). One of the
main differences between most of these agents and the lentiviruses reported here is the
restricted level of lentivirus synthesis by infected macrophages. A further difference of course
is the fact that the non-macrophage cells may be non-productively infected as seen in
cultivated fibroblasts. Such cells in vivo with unexpressed virus genomes would also be spared
from immune elimination as suggested by Brahic et al. (1981).
In addition to possible differential restriction of virus replication by cells in vivo and in
vitro, the unique virus-macrophage-fibroblast interaction provides a better understanding of
virus activation when infected tissues are cultivated in vitro. Thus, the minimal quantities of
infectivity usually observed in tissue suspensions from infected animals could be explained
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O. NARAYAN AND OTHERS
either by a negligible amount of infectivity in cell-free suspensions or the lack of infectivity of
field viruses for the fibroblast cultures used as indicators. Support for the latter hypothesis
comes from examination of cell-free lung homogenates from the Shropshire and the two
Corriedale sheep with severe interstitial pneumonia. These homogenates had approx. 102
macrophage TCIDs0 but less than 10 fibroblast TCIDs0 (O. Narayan et al., unpublished
results). The greater sensitivity of the explantation method may be a reflection of two
interdependent factors. First, macrophages are always present in outgrowths of tissue explants
and secondly, explant outgrowths invariably give rise to fibroblasts. Explant cultures,
therefore, would automatically provide the conditions for obtaining fusion, since virusinfected macrophages would cause fusion of fibroblasts.
The non-productive infection of sheep fibroblasts with the goat virus (GLV) and the rescue
of this agent by phagocytic synovial membrane cells (GSM) had been observed in a previous
study (Narayan et al., 1980). However, these data were not evaluated from the perspective
that macrophages were virus target cells. In the present study, the mechanism of macrophage
induction of virus synthesis in infected non-producer fibroblasts and the reason for the
obligatory presence of the macrophages for the continuation of this process still remain to be
defined. Results so far show that this activation factor was not present in the supernatant fluid
of macrophages. However, the fact that irradiated infected macrophages had the capacity to
fuse fibroblasts shows that the factor is cell-associated. Possibly, it is an enzyme which may
have an obligatory function in cleavage of virus precursor protein(s) in infected fibroblasts
into smaller units required for virion assembly. This analogy is drawn from studies of
paramyxoviruses in which maturational defects can be corrected by purified proteases
(Scheid & Choppin, 1974; Nagai et al., 1976) and by macrophages (Waters et al., 1974).
Whatever the mechanism, the inference drawn for pathogenesis is that the virus-infected
macrophage could determine the host-cell range of the virus and thus determine target organs
for disease.
The site of replication of these viruses in macrophages and fibroblasts provides grounds for
further speculation on the pathogenesis of the diseases caused by these agents. Since virus
particles are formed predominantly within cytoplasmic vacuoles of macrophages, these cells
may elude detection by cellular surveillance systems and therefore escape immune
elimination. However, macrophage-dependent virus morphogenesis in fibroblasts which
express virus antigens on the cell surface would be ideal targets for immune response. If
parenchymal cells of target organs replicate virus similar to fibroblasts in culture, then the
conditions would be fulfilled for the immunopathological lesion. A chance fusing reaction
between a brain cell, a pneumonocyte, or a synovial cell and an infected macrophage might
result in enough expression of virus proteins for the cell to be recognized by the host immune
system. Invasion of the neurophil, lung and joints with inflammatory cells, including more
infected monocytes, would then follow as part of an immune-mediated pathology (Panitch et
aL, 1976). This could result in amplification of the local infection and lead to the encephalitic
and pneumonic and arthritic lesions which characterize natural visna/maedi/arthritis.
Fruitful discussions with Dr Gilles Dulac of the Animal Disease Research Institute of Canada and
the expert technical assistance of Georg Fleming, Darlene Sheffer, Susan Burke. Harold Scott, Dianna
Bobby and Linda Kelly are gratefully acknowledged. J.S.W. and L.C.C. are recipients of Research
Career Development Awards from the NIH. D.G. is an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute. This work was supported by grants NS12127, 1-P01-NS-15721 and RR00130 from the
NIH, grant RG12328 from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and a starter grant from the Kroc
Foundation.
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