Viricidal effect of stimulated human mononuclear phagocytes on human immunodeficiency virus type 1

Human monocytes stimulated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate or opsonized zymosan in vitro were viricidal to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) as measured by the inability of the virus to replicate in CEM cells. Monocytes, when stimulated, release myeloperoxidase (MPO) and produce H2O2; MPO reacts with H2O2 and chloride to form hypochlorous acid, a known microbicidal agent. The viricidal activity of stimulated monocytes was inhibited by the peroxidase inhibitor azide, implicating MPO, and by catalase but not heated catalase or superoxide dismutase, implicating H2O2. Stimulated monocytes from patients with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) or hereditary MPO deficiency were not viricidal to HIV-1 unless they were supplemented with the H2O2-generating enzyme glucose oxidase or MPO, respectively. The viricidal activity of stimulated, glucose oxidase-supplemented CGD monocytes and MPO-supplemented MPO-deficient monocytes, like that of normal stimulated monocytes, was inhibited by azide and catalase. Monocytesmaintained in culture differentiate into macrophages with loss of MPO and decreased H2O2 production. The viricidal activity of 3- to 9-day monocyte-derived macrophages was decreased unless MPO was added, whereas the loss of viricidal activity by 12-day-old monocyte-derived macrophages was not reversed by MPO unless the cells were pretreated with gamma-interferon. These findings suggest that stimulated monocytes can be viricidal to HIV-1 through the release of the MPO/H2O2/chloride system and that the decreased viricidal activity on differentiation to macrophages results initially from the loss of MPO and, with more prolonged culture, also from a decreased respiratory burst that can be overcome by gamma-interferon.