Cell surface antigen expression in newborn cord blood lymphocytes infected with HTLV

Human T cell lymphocyte lines, established from lymphoid tissues from patients with adult T cell malignancies infected with the human T cell lymphoma virus (HTLV), were used in co-culture experiments to infect newborn cord blood lymphocytes (CBL). The infected and non-infected CBL cell lines were typed for HLA alloantigen determinants and tested for cell surface antigens using selected monoclonal antibodies. Infected cord blood lymphocytes showed inappropriate expression of alloantigenic determinants of the HLA-A and -B alleles. The monoclonal antibody 4D12, detecting an antigen common to the HLA-B5 cross-reactive group, was reactive with all infected cultures; this determinant appeared de novo in CBL cells lacking B5 cross-reactive group antigens in the uninfected state, and it increased in density in the infected cultures where the HLA-B5 cross-reactive alloantigens were present in uninfected CBL. HLA-DR was expressed in low levels or not detected on non-infected cultured cord blood lymphocytes and was present on all infected cells. OKT4 positive cells predominated in infected cultures, whereas OKT8 positive cells decreased in number or were absent. The TCGF receptor also increased both in density and in percent positive cells in all infected cell lines. The results suggest that HTLV may be tropic for a subset of T cells expressing mature T cell markers and that viral infections directly affect expression of cell surface antigens controlled by the human major histocompatibility complex (MHC).