Down-modulation of the ZAP-70 protein tyrosine kinase in macaque T lymphocytes infected with SIVsmmPBj14.

The simian immunodeficiency virus SIV-PBj14 is the most virulent primate lentivirus identified to date. Other SIV strains, including the parental SIVsmm9, require mitogen-activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) for replication in vitro; however, SIV-PBj14 replicates in quiescent pig-tailed macaque PBMC and induces cellular proliferation, consistent with its in vivo pathogenesis. To identify mechanisms involved in SIV-PBj14-induced T-cell proliferation, kinases important in early T-cell receptor-mediated activation pathways were studied. Immunoblot analyses showed that ZAP-70 protein, a tyrosine kinase, was downregulated, primarily in CD8+ T cells, as early as 30 minutes after in vitro infection of quiescent macaque PBMC with SIV-PBj 14. Furthermore, this downregulation required the presence of either CD4+ T cells or adherent cells or both cell populations. In agreement with the in vitro results, ZAP-70 expression was downregulated in macaque PBMC, spleen, and rectal lymph node cells as early as 2 days after rectal inoculation of pig-tailed macaques with SIV-PBj14. This phenomenon, however, was not observed in cells obtained from distal lymph nodes to which the virus had not disseminated, implying that the presence of SIV-PBj14 is necessary to induce downregulation of ZAP-70.