Immunophenotypic Study of Atypical Lymphocytes Generated in Peripheral Blood and Spleen of Nude Mice After MHV-72 Infection

Inbred athymic nude mice (BALB/c) were injected subcutaneously with the wild-type murine gammaherpesvirus 72 (MHV-72), which has been shown to induce the infectious mononucleosis (IM)-like syndrome in immunocompetent mice. The mice were also injected with UV-irradiated MHV-72. We studied the pattern of acute and chronic infection in the blood cells of the nude mice and detected viral DNA sequences in the infected leukocytes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique up to when the animal died, close to 1 month postinfection. Using the UV-irradiated virus that induces an increase in mouse survival time, the viral sequences were present in the blood up to 3 months postinfection, then disappeared. We detected atypical lymphocytes in the blood of mice infected with both wt and UV-irradiated viruses. These atypical cells were similar in shape to those present in the blood of patients with IM induced by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Via Unscheduled DNA Synthesis (UDS), DNA synthesis was demonstrated in the atypical cells whose phenotype is identical to that of B cells, as shown with a panel of monoclonal antibodies. By double immunofluorescence staining, using an hyperimmune anti-MHV-72 serum and an anti-IgG + IgM + IgA monoclonal antibody, we demonstrated that these atypical B cells express some viral antigens. Contrary to the immunocompetent mice, the nude mice did not develop splenomegaly after infection with wt virus, probably due to the lack of T cell subsets. However, we observed an increase of nude mice B cells in the spleen. The nude mice died 1 month postinfection showing a high frequency (40%) of atypical lymphoblast-like B-cells in the blood; the increase in natural killer (NK) cell number was not detected after infection. Such findings suggest that NK cells probably did not play an important role in immune response to the MHV infection in nude mice. Finally, this mouse model could play an important role in antigammaherpesviral therapy of immunocompromised patients.