Modulation of normal human erythropoietic progenitor cells in long-term liquid cultures after HIV-1 infection.

Long-term bone marrow cultures (LTBMC) have been infected by two isolates of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) (HIV-1 LAV and HIV-1 NDK) at multiplicities of infection ranging from 10(2) to 2.10(6) tissue culture infectious units (TCIU) per 10(6) bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNC). These infected cells are nonproducer cells and the viruses can be rescued by coculture with peripheral blood lymphocytes, cord blood lymphocytes, or BMMNC and not by the CEM cell line. HIV-1 clearly is not cytopathic for these cells. Following production and growth of erythroid burst-forming units (BFU-E) and erythroid colony-forming units (CFU-E) for at least 6 weeks after infection with HIV-1 NDK, colony assays displayed a 50% inhibition of BFU-E production during 3 weeks of LTBMC. This was followed by a stimulation phase. On the contrary, HIV-1 LAV induces a 150% stimulation of BFU-E production, followed by 50% inhibition. Production of CFU-E was inhibited by 80-100% with the two isolates of HIV-1 after four weeks of LTBMC. Stimulatory and inhibitory activities were recovered from supernatants of infected LTBMC and lymphoid CEM cell lines, suggesting that HIV-1 induces release of a humoral factor responsible for disruption of hemopoietic progenitor cell production in vitro and consequently for hematologic abnormalities in AIDS patients.