Longitudinal study of HTLV-III-infected chimpanzees by lymphocyte subpopulation analysis.

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.