Replication and persistence of measles virus in defined subpopulations of human leukocytes

Abstract

Replication of Edmonston strain measles virus was studied in several human lymphoblast lines, as well as in defined subpopulations of circulating human leukocytes. It was found that measles virus can productively infect T cells, B cells, and monocytes from human blood. These conclusions were derived from infectious center studies on segregated cell populations, as well as from ultrastructural analyses on cells labeled with specific markers. In contrast, mature polymorphonuclear cells failed to synthesize measles virus nucleocapsids even after infection at a relatively high multiplicity of infection. Measles virus replicated more efficiently in lymphocytes stimulated with mitogens than in unstimulated cells. However, both phytohemagglutinin and pokeweed mitogen had a negligible stimulatory effect on viral synthesis in purified populations of monocytes. In all instances the efficiency of measles virus replication by monocytes was appreciably less than that of mitogenically stimulated lymphocytes or of continuously culture lymphoblasts. Under standard conditions of infection, all of the surveyed lymphoblast lines produced equivalent amounts of measles virus regardless of the major histocompatibility (HL-A) haplotype. Hence, no evidence was found that the HL-A3,7 haplotype conferred either an advantage or disadvantage with respect to measles virus synthesis in an immunologically neutral environment. A persistent infection with measles virus could be established in both T and B lymphoblasts. The release of infectious virus from such persistently infected cells was stable over a period of several weeks and was approximately 100-fold less than peak viral titers obtained in each respective line after acute infection.

Growth of Measles Virus in Epithelial and Lymphoid Tissues of Cynomolgus Monkeys

“…These findings suggest that replication of measles virus in the epithelial cells results in more efficient release of free virus than occurs in the lymphoid cells. Such restricted growth of measles virus in the lymphoid cells has been indicated by several investigators (2,3,6,11). Whether the restricted production of H and F proteins in the lymphoid cells is relevant to the apparent lack of virus growth remains for future study.…”

Effects of Infection by HIV‐1, Cytomegalovirus, and Human Measles Virus on Cultured Human Thymic Epithelial Cells

“…The AD-169 laboratory strain of human CMV was propagated and quantified in mycoplasma-free human embryonic lung fibroblasts (HEL cells) as described previously (11). Human measles virus which had been isolated from clinical specimens at the diagnostic virology laboratory of the Montreal Children's Hospital, was propagated and quantified by plaque assay in Vero cells (5), and harvested at times of maximal cytopathic effect (CPE). The HIV-IIIB laboratory strain of HIV-1 was harvested from culture fluids of the H-9 T leukemic cell line (kindly supplied by Dr. R.C.…”

Growth of Measles Virus in Various Human Lymphoid Cell Lines

“…The replication of measles virus in human leukocytes in vitro was reported by Berg and Rosenthal (2). Recently, Sullivan et al (10) reported that measles virus could replicate in human lymphocytes of peripheral blood and furthermore Joseph et al (6) confirmed the replication of measles virus in B-and T-cells of human peripheral lymphocytes. Lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from B-and T-cells of human lymphocytes had been established and employed in studies of various fields.…”

“…Chung and Murphy (3), and Gallagher and Flanagan (4) reported the replication of measles virus in human lymphoid cell lines of MOLT-4, Rajii and Jijoye. Joseph et al (6) and Barry et al (1) reported that measles virus of the wild type and attenuated Edmonstone strain could replicate and set up persistent infection in both B-and Tlymphoblastoid cells. Independently of their works, we also reported that the persistent infection of human lymphoid cell line of the B-cell type, NC-37, was established with an attenuated vaccine strain and a neurovirulent strain of measles virus and subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) virus, but not with wild measles virus (8).…”