Mycoplasma stimulates HIV-1 expression from acutely- and dormantly-infected promonocyte/monoblastoid cell lines

Treatment of a myelo-monocyte cell line, J22HL-60, dormantly infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) with heat-inactivated extracts of Acholeplasma (A) laidlawii (250 micrograms/ml) enhanced virus production more than 45-fold as assessed by p24 viral core antigen assay. When treated with a suboptimal dose of TPA or TNF-alpha, Acholeplasma extracts further augmented virus production in J22HL-60 cells. H7, an inhibitor of protein kinase C(PKC), almost completely abrogated HIV-1-inducing ability of Acholeplasma extracts in the cells. A. laidlawii and several other mycoplasmas also enhanced acute infection of U937 cells as shown by increased virus-positive cells and augmentation of HIV-1 production in the culture supernatant independent of their pathogenicity to humans.