Isolation of human immunodeficiency virus from hemophiliacs: Correlation with clinical symptoms and immunologic abnormalities

As part of a prospective study of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in hemophilia, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMs) from 72 individuals without acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or AIDS-related complex (ARC) were cultured for virus. HIV was isolated from PBMs from 16 (24%) of 66 patients with hemophilia who were seropositive for HIV and from none of six seronegative patients. Cells from five of six patients from which HIV was isolated were again successfully cultured for virus 3 to 12 months later. HIV core P24 antigen was detected in serum from seven of 15 patients with HIV-positive cells and from eight of 50 with HIV-negative cells. Patients with hemophilia with isolation-positive cells had significantly fewer ^ helper cells and significantly lower ^ helper/T suppressor ratios, pokeweed mitogen responsiveness, and total platelet counts than did those whose cells did not yield HIV on cultivation. HIV neutralizing antibody titers did not differ between hemophiliacs with or without HIV-positive PBMs. Three of the 16 patients with virus-positive cells developed AIDS, and two ARC, within 18 months of the study, compared with three of 50 seropositive hemophiliacs whose cells did not yield virus, who developed ARC during the same period. The significant decrease in the number of T helper cells, decreased platelet counts, and higher rate of progression to AIDS in the group with HIV isolation may reflect a heavier virus load, indicating that the ability to culture HIV may be an early marker of more significant disease.