Lymphoproliferative syndrome in an immunodeficient rhesus monkey naturally infected with an HTLV-III-like virus (STLV-III).

A rhesus monkey with a naturally acquired STLV-III infection developed immunosuppression and a lymphoproliferative syndrome characterized by progressive lymphadenopathy and widespread visceral mononuclear cell infiltration. On microscopic examination, diffuse sheets of plasmacytoid lymphoblasts obliterated the sinuses and follicles of the nodes, replaced normal cellular elements of the spleen, bone marrow, and thymus, and infiltrated the lung, liver, kidney, salivary gland, pancreas, thyroid, stomach, and tongue. Immunohistologic studies indicated that the predominant cell in these infiltrates was a B lymphocyte, of oligo- or polyclonal origin. Similar but less extreme lymphoproliferative abnormalities were seen at necropsy in a substantial number of other animals with naturally occurring macaque immunodeficiency syndrome. The present case represents the first prospectively studied monkey with a naturally acquired simian T lymphotropic virus type III infection and illustrates an important manifestation of disease associated with such an infection.