Human immunodeficiency virus can productively infect cultured human glial cells.

Six isolates of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) showed differences in their ability to productively infect glioma-derived cell lines and early-passage human brain cell cultures. Susceptibility to HIV infection correlated well with the expression of the astrocyte marker glial fibrillary acidic protein. The CD4 molecule was expressed on some, but not all, of the brain-derived cells; however, no correlation was observed between CD4 protein expression and susceptibility to virus infection. The results show that HIV can productively infect human brain cells, particularly those of glial origin, and suggest that these cell types in the brain can harbor the virus.