Like varicella-zoster virus (VZV), simian varicella virus (SVV) reactivates to produce zoster. In the present study, 5 rhesus macaques were inoculated intrabronchially with SVV, and 5 months later, 4 monkeys were immunosuppressed; 1 monkey was not immunosuppressed but was subjected to the stress of transportation. In 4 monkeys, a zoster rash developed 7 to 12 weeks after immunosuppression, and a rash also developed in the monkey that was not immunosuppressed. Analysis at 24 to 48 h after zoster revealed SVV antigen in the lung alveolar wall, in ganglionic neurons and nonneuronal cells, and in skin and in lymph nodes. In skin, SVV was found primarily in sweat glands. In lymph nodes, the SVV antigen colocalized mostly with macrophages, dendritic cells, and, to a lesser extent, T cells. The presence of SVV in lymph nodes, as verified by quantitative PCR detection of SVV DNA, might reflect the sequestration of virus by macrophages and dendritic cells in lymph nodes or the presentation of viral antigens to T cells to initiate an immune response against SVV, or both.
Importance: VZV causes varicella (chickenpox), becomes latent in ganglia, and reactivates to produce zoster and multiple other serious neurological disorders. SVV in nonhuman primates has proved to be a useful model in which the pathogenesis of the virus parallels the pathogenesis of VZV in humans. Here, we show that SVV antigens are present in sweat glands in skin and in macrophages and dendritic cells in lymph nodes after SVV reactivation in monkeys, raising the possibility that macrophages and dendritic cells in lymph nodes serve as antigen-presenting cells to activate T cell responses against SVV after reactivation.
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