A 24-year-old man is infected with HIV during a sexual encounter with a prostitute. He does not notice any symptoms in the period immediately after the encounter. During the asymptomatic latent phase of his infection, the virus is actively proliferating, and can be found in association with which of the following?
Follicular dendritic cells in the germinal centers of lymph nodes are impoant reservoirs of HIV. Although some follicular dendritic cells are infected with HIV, most viral paicles are found on the surface of their dendritic processes. Follicular dendritic cells have receptors to the Fc poion of immunoglobulins that serve to trap HIV virions coated with anti-HIV antibodies. These coated HIV paicles retain the ability to infect CD4+ T cells as they traverse the dendritic cells. B lymphocytes have a surface marker (CD21 protein-a complement receptor) to which an Epstein-Barr envelope glycoprotein can bind. The virus associates with the host cell genome, producing a latent infection. These B cells undergo polyclonal activation and proliferation. Ganglion cells, paicularly the satellite cells around the ganglion cells in the dorsal root ganglia, can be infected by varicella-zoster. Herpes type I and II infect neurons that innervate skin and mucous membranes. Oligodendrocytes are directly infected by two viruses, JC virus (a polyomavirus) and measles virus. JC virus causes progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), and measles virus produces a latent syndrome called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE). Ref: Levinson W. (2012). Chapter 58. Cellular Basis of the Immune Response. In W. Levinson (Ed), Review of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, 12e.
B lymphocytes
Follicular dendritic cells in lymph nodes
Ganglion cells
Oligodendrocytes