Caprine arthritis encephalitis virus infection changes caprine blood monocyte responsiveness to lipopolysaccharide stimulation in vitro.

The effects of caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV) infection on cytokine activity of caprine monocytes stimulated with Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were examined. Compared with supernatants from LPS-stimulated monocytes of CAEV-negative goats, supernatants from CAEV-positive goats stimulated less proliferation of murine thymocytes in the MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay, showed about 50% less IL-1 activity on the IL-1-dependent cell line LBRM-33 1 A-5, and showed about 200% more tumor necrosis factor (TNF) activity on the TNF-sensitive murine fibroblast cell line L-929. These results indicate that CAEV infection changes caprine monocyte cytokine responsivity.