Interaction between 6/94 virus, a parainfluenza type 1 strain, and human leukocytes.

6/94 virus, a parainfluenza type 1 virus recovered by lysolecithin fusion of multiple sclerosis brain cell cultures with CV-1 cells, replicated in monocyte macrophages and lymphocytes from normal human donors and from a patient with multiple sclerosis. In macrophage cultures, hemadsorption-positive cells and high levels of infectious virus became apparent within 24 to 48 h after infection, persisted for 6 days, and then began to decrease. Phytohemagglutinin-stimulated macrophages yielded similar titers of virus, but the levels were maintained for a longer period of time. Macrophage-produced virus appeared to be infectious for other macrophages in the same culture. Both unstimulated and phytohemagglutinin-stimulated lymphocytes also supported virus replication. Significantly higher titers were produced in the stimulated cultures, T cell-enriched populations producing more virus than unseparated populations whether stimulated or unstimulated. The presence or absence of antibodies to the virus in the donors did not appear to influence the levels of virus obtained in any of the leukocyte cultures. However, an increase in blastic forms after 6/94 virus infection was noted in lymphocytes from donors with antibodies as revealed morphologically and by increased incorporations of tritiated thymidine. Furthermore, 6/94 virus-infected lymphocytes, unlike Sendai virus-infected lymphocytes, were able to respond well to mitogenic stimulation by phytohemagglutinin.