Detection of Infectious Simian Immunodeficiency Virus in B- and T-Cell
Lymphomas of Experimentally Infected Macaques
Maria Teresa Maggiorella,
Francesca Monardo,
Martin Luther Koanga-Mogtomo,
Livia Cioè,
Leonardo Sernicola,
Franco Corrias,
Carlo David Baroni,
Paola Verani, and
Fausto Titti
From the Laboratory of Virology, Istituto Superiore Sanità,
Rome, Italy; and II Chair of Pathological Anatomy, Department of
Experimental Medicine and Pathology, University "La Sapienza,"
Rome, Italy.
An increasing frequency of malignant lymphomas occurs among patients
infected by human immunodeficiency virus. Because of the close
similarities to human malignancies, we used a nonhuman primate model to
study the pathogenesis of simian immunodeficiency virus
(SIV)-associated malignancies. Specifically, we investigated (1) the
presence of the SIV genome in tumor cells, (2) the presence of
coinfecting viruses, and (3) the presence of a rearrangement of the
immunoglobulin and c-myc genes. We observed 5 cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (4 of B- and 1 of T-cell origin) among 14 SIV-infected cynomolgus monkeys. No c-myc translocation was observed in the tumors, whereas B-cell lymphomas were characterized either by a monoclonal (in 2 of 4) or by an oligoclonal (in 2 of 4) VDJ
rearrangements of the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene. Molecular,
biological, and immunological analyses did show the presence of
infectious SIV in the tumor cells of 1 T-cell and 2 oligoclonal B-cell
lymphomas. Neither Simian T-lymphotropic nor Epstein-Barr viruses were
detectable, whereas Simian herpes virus Macaca fascicularis-1
was detectable at a very low copy number in 3 of 4 B-cell lymphomas;
however, only 1 of these also harbored the SIV genome. These results
support the possibility that SIV may be directly involved in the
process of B or T lymphomagenesis occurring in simian acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome.
Blood, Vol. 91 No. 9 (May 1), 1998:
pp. 3103-3111
© 1998 by The American Society of Hematology.
