The Journal of Immunology, Vol 149, Issue 5 1707-1713, Copyright © 1992 by American Association of Immunologists

ARTICLES

Impaired calcium mobilization in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in a retrovirus- induced immunodeficiency syndrome, murine AIDS

M Makino, Y Sei, PK Arora, HC Morse 3d and JW Hartley
Laboratory of Immunopathology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.

After infection with LP-BM5 murine leukemia viruses, susceptible strains of mice develop a severe and progressive immunodeficiency disease, termed murine AIDS (MAIDS), features of which include markedly impaired T cell response to mitogens or specific Ag stimulation and decreased production of IL-2. Since an elevation of intracellular calcium concentration resulting from binding of Ag to the TCR is associated with IL-2 production, T cells from mice either uninfected or infected with LP-BM5 murine leukemia viruses were examined by a calcium mobilization assay. Both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from infected mice manifested impaired calcium mobilization responses upon in vitro stimulation with anti-CD3 mAb or Con A. The abnormalities appeared early after virus inoculation and showed no difference in time course between subsets of T cells. Frequencies of prestimulation calcium- positive cells among both CD4+ and CD8+ cells in mice with MAIDS were significantly higher than those for uninfected mice. These abnormalities were associated with presence of the MAIDS-inducing defective virus genome, but were not induced by infection of mice genetically resistant to development of MAIDS or with nonpathogenic helper murine leukemia virus, a virus component that induces high spontaneous proliferation of T cells, even in MAIDS-resistant mice.