Isolation of HTLV-III from CSF and neural tissues of patients with AIDS-related neurological syndromes

Abstract

Summary Virus isolation studies were conducted on 56 central nervous system (CNS) specimens from 45 patients in order to determine if the human T-lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV-III) is directly involved in the pathogenesis of the neurological disorders frequently encountered in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related complex (ARC). We now report the recovery of HTLV-III from at least one CNS specimen from 24 of 33 patients with AIDS-related neurological syndromes. In one patient, HTLV-III was isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) during acute aseptic meningitis associated with HTLV-III seroconversion. HTLV-III has also been isolated from CSF of 6 of 7 patients with AIDS or ARC and unexplained chronic meningitis. In addition, of 16 patients with AIDS-related dementia, 10 were culture-positive for HTLV-III from CSF, brain tissue or both. Furthermore, we have cultured HTLV-III from spinal cord of a patient with myelopathy and from sural nerve of a patient with peripheral neuropathy. These findings suggest that HTLV-III (1) is also neurotropic, (2) is capable of causing acute meningitis, (3) is responsible for the AIDS-related chronic meningitis and dementia, and (4) may be the cause of the spinal cord degeneration and peripheral neuropathy seen in AIDS and ARC.