Susceptibility to AZT of HIV-1 variants grown in Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B cell lines.

How 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT) affects the ability of three different variants of HIV-1 to infect a line of EBV-transformed B cells was studied. Susceptible cells were pretreated with three different concentrations of AZT (1, 5, and 10 microM) for 4 h before viral inoculation and were maintained after infection in drug-containing medium. Establishment of viral infection was assessed by indirect immunofluorescence for viral antigens and by antigen capture assay carried out on culture fluids. AZT completely blocked infection in one of the HIV-1 variants studied; in the other two, treatment of cells with AZT significantly delayed the appearance of progeny virus.