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J. Exp. Med.,
Volume 189, Number 6, March 15, 1999 991-998
By




From * The Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, The Rockefeller University, New York 10016; To determine the role of CD8+ T cells in controlling simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)
replication in vivo, we examined the effect of depleting this cell population using an anti-CD8
monoclonal antibody, OKT8F. There was on average a 99.9% reduction of CD8 cells in peripheral blood in six infected Macaca mulatta treated with OKT8F. The apparent CD8 depletion started 1 h after antibody administration, and low CD8 levels were maintained until day 8. An increase in plasma viremia of one to three orders of magnitude was observed in five of the
six macaques. The injection of a control antibody to an infected macaque did not induce a sustained viral load increase, nor did it significantly reduce the number of CD8+ T cells. These results demonstrate that CD8 cells play a crucial role in suppressing SIV replication in vivo.
Tulane Regional Primate Research Center, Covington, Louisiana 70433; the § Department of
Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; and
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
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