In vitro infection of bone marrow-adherent cells by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) does not alter their ability to support hematopoiesis.

As an attempt to elucidate the pathogenesis of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-related cytopenia, the effects of infection of long-term primary bone marrow culture (LTBMC)-derived adherent cells on hematopoiesis were investigated. Productive infection could then be established only when using monocytotropic strains HIV-1Ba-L, HIV-1Ada, and HIV-1JR-FL but not with lymphocytotropic strain HIV-1LAI. Culture supernatants were tested for major cytokines involved in the regulation of hematopoiesis: neither IL-3 nor GM-CSF were detectable in the infected or noninfected cultures; in contrast, TGF-beta, TNF-alpha, MIP-1 alpha, Steel Factor, and IL-6 were detected at all times in established LTBMCs, but their levels were not consistently altered by virus replication. In vitro functional analysis by colony and long-term culture assays showed that HIV-1 infection failed to alter either the kinetics or the number of hematopoietic progenitors produced by the stromal layers; it did not interfere with the clonogenicity of exogeneous CD34+ cells in semisolid assays, and no difference was observed relative to the controls when HIV-1-infected stromal layers were tested for their ability to sustain long-term hematopoiesis. These results show that productive and sustained virus replication in the macrophage component of LTBMCs does not significantly alter the profile of major cytokines involved in regulating hematopoiesis, nor is it sufficient by itself for altering in vitro hematopoiesis under the baseline conditions used.