In vivo infection of marrow stromal fibroblasts by feline leukemia virus.

Marrow stromal fibroblasts (FBs) likely play an important role in the regulation of hematopoiesis within the marrow microenvironment. Infection of these cells by feline leukemia virus (FeLV) might not only contribute to the pathogenesis of FeLV-induced hematologic diseases, but could provide a reservoir for virus in the infected cat. To determine the frequency of FeLV infection among marrow FB precursor cells (fibroblast colony-forming units, CFU-F) of cats viremic with FeLV-C/Sarma and FeLV-A/61E, marrow FBs and FB cell clones were isolated and assayed for expression of FeLV gag protein. From 30% to 86% and 64% to 88% of marrow FB precursors were infected with FeLV-C/Sarma and FeLV-A/61E, respectively. CFU-F from a cat viremic with FeLV-A/61E were not affected by exposure to antibody against FeLV envelope glycoprotein gp70 and heterologous complement, whereas similarly treated hematopoietic progenitors (erythroid colony-forming units, CFU-E; erythroid burst-forming units, BFU-E; and granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming units, CFU-GM) and culture-propagated, FeLV-infected marrow FBs were effectively lysed, suggesting that infected CFU-F within the marrow microenvironment do not express a significant amount of gp70 on their cell membranes. Thus, marrow FB precursor cells appear to be a major target for FeLV in vivo. Furthermore, the low level of gp70 antigen expression on the surface of these cells in vivo may allow them to escape immune surveillance and provide a reservoir of virus during active or latent infection.