AIDS virus infection has been associated with a variety of neurological syndromes ranging from peripheral neuropathy to dementia. Although the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has been isolated from brain tissue and cerebro-spinal fluid of infected patients, evidence for wide spread nerve cell viral replication has not been demonstrated. We have preliminary evidence that restricted infection of human neuroblastoma cells occurs in tissue culture. We will test the hypothesis that restrictive (or incomplete) HIV infection occurs in cells of neuronal origin to develop a tissue culture model system for the study of HIV effects on human brain cells. These studies will test the extent of viral gene expression in a series of phenotypically different neuroblastoma cell types. We will assess whether cell dysfunction, measured in terms of alteration of specific host cell gene expression, is altered by infection with HIV. Finally, we will determine whether HIV infection affects the ability of each neuroblastoma to differentiate, and whether the level of cellular differentiation alters the degree of permissiveness of HIV infection.
| Flomenbaum, M; Soeiro, R; Udem, S A et al. (1989) Proliferative membranopathy and human immunodeficiency virus in AIDS hearts. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2:129-35 |
