CD8+CD4− lymphocyte lines can harbor the AIDS virus in vitro.

A detailed definition of AIDS virus-specific T lymphocytes will require the generation and characterization of HIV-1-specific, cloned T cell populations. In our studies, we show that CD8+CD4- lymphocyte lines, derived from PBL of rhesus monkeys infected with simian immunodeficiency virus of macaques and humans infected with HIV-1, can harbor AIDS viruses. CD8+CD4- lymphocyte lines derived from infected individuals are shown to express AIDS virus-encoded proteins and generate reverse transcriptase activity. Infection of these CD8+CD4- lymphocytes is confirmed at the single cell level by the techniques of immunoelectronmicroscopy and two-color immunohistochemistry. This observation suggests that it may prove problematic to generate cloned, functional T lymphocyte populations from AIDS virus-infected individuals and raises the possibility that CD8+CD4- cells may serve as reservoirs for the AIDS viruses.