Border disease virus antigens in lymphocyte subpopulations in the peripheral blood of persistently infected sheep.

Biotinylated virus-specific antibodies were used to detect Border disease virus antigen by flow cytometry in the mononuclear cells of the peripheral blood of 15 sheep persistently infected with Border disease virus. The viral antigen was present in 12.86 +/- 4.65% (mean +/- SD) of mononuclear cells (MNC). The percentage of MNC that contained viral antigen was higher in lambs than in adult sheep, with mean rates of 22.68 +/- 5.02% and 11.65 +/- 4.39%, respectively. Depletion methods were used to estimate the distribution of viral antigen in peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets. The viral antigen was present in T-cells (OvCD5+), B-cells (LCAp220+) and non-T- and non-B-cells. Depletion studies revealed that 5.39 +/- 2.47% of the cells expressing the LCAp220 epitope (B-cells), 23.38 +/- 11.38% of those expressing the OvCD5 epitope (T-cells) and 55.07 +/- 10.93% of those which were neither B- nor T-cells were positive for viral antigen. Most (57.18 +/- 5.41%) of the T-cells containing viral antigen were cytotoxic/suppressor (OvCD8), 25.63 +/- 2.97% were helper (OvCD4) cells and 12.24 +/- 3.21% expressed the gamma/delta (OvWC1) epitope.