Longitudinal Study of HTLV‐III‐Infected Chimpanzees by Lymphocyte Subpopulation Analysis

Abstract

Following inoculation with plasma from human patients with AIDS, two chimpanzees demonstrated specific antihuman T‐cell leukemia virus type 3 (HTLV‐III) antibodies. One of the two chimpanzees also developed massive lymphadenopathy that persisted for 32 weeks and demonstrated a concurrent and more frequent depression of total T cells (T₃) and T helper cells (T₄) with a decrease in the ratios of T₄ to T suppressor cells (T₈). These results indicate that chimpanzees demonstrate a range of T‐cell subpopulations during infection and disease induced by HTLV‐III.