Impaired cytokine production by bone marrow stromal cells of immunodeficient mice.

The aetiology of the bone marrow suppression in HIV-infected patients is unknown. We have demonstrated previously that the ability of bone marrow cells, derived from mice made immunodeficient by infection with the retrovirus LP-BM5, to establish long-term stromal cultures is impaired. In this study we determined the ability of bone marrow stromal cells from these immunodeficient mice to produce cytokines important in haemopoiesis. Neither SCF, IL-3, GM-CSF nor TNF alpha were found in conditioned media of long-term bone marrow cultures (LTBMC) of normal or MAIDS mice. We failed to detect mRNA for TNF or IL-1 alpha, by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), in cultures derived from either normal or immunodeficient mice. Steady-state levels of transcripts for IL-6 were equal in cells from normal and MAIDS mice. Steady-state levels of mRNA for TGF beta 1, a known inhibitor of haemopoiesis, were decreased in cultures derived from MAIDS mice at late stages of infection. The mRNA level of the multipotent haemopoietic regulator stem cell factor was also decreased in MAIDS cultures as compared with normals. Transcripts encoding the transmembrane form of the growth factor were almost absent. Addition of soluble GM-CSF and SCF only transiently increased the production of CFUs (BFUE and CFU-G/M) in MAIDS LTBMC. These findings suggest that derangements in cytokine production in stromal cells of immunodeficient mice may contribute to the suppression of haemopoiesis observed in this disease. One mechanism of HIV-induced depression of haemopoiesis may be via alterations of the haemopoietic microenvironment.