Production of Tumor Necrosis Factor a and Interleukin 1,B by Monocytic Cells Infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus

The production of tumor necrosis factor a (TNFa) and IL-1,8 by the monocytic cell line THP-1, productively infected with HIV-1, was investigated using specific RIA and Northern blot analysis. HIV-infected cells, like uninfected cells, did not con-stitutively produce any detectable amounts of protein or mRNA for TNFa or IL-1,8. After stimulation with LPS or a combination of LPS plus IFN-'y, TNFa and IL-1,8 were de-tected in tissue culture supernatants and cell lysates and tran-scripts for both cytokines were seen on Northern blots. No significant difference in production of these two cytokines was observed between uninfected and chronically infected cells. Acutely HIV-infected cells, however, showed phenotypic changes compatible with maturation and an increase in TNFa and IL-1f mRNA production, and released significantly higher levels of TNFa and IL-10 compared with chronically infected or uninfected cells. Furthermore, LPS stimulation of HIV-in-fected cells increased virus production. These results suggest that HIV-infected monocytic cells may produce increased amounts of TNFa and IL-1ft in response to stimuli that could be present in vivo