West African HIV-2-related human retrovirus with attenuated cytopathicity.
Clinical and seroepidemiological studies in West Africa indicate that human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) is widespread and associated with immunodeficiency states of variable degree. In this study, an isolate of HIV-2 from a patient in Senegal was molecularly cloned and characterized. This isolate (HIV-2ST) was shown by hybridization and restriction enzyme analysis to be more related to the prototype HIV-2ROD than to other human or primate retroviruses. Cultures of HIV-2ST showed genotypic polymorphism, and clones of the virus had transmembrane envelope glycoproteins of 30 and 42 kilodaltons. Unlike other immunodeficiency viruses, HIV-2ST did not cause cell death or induce cell fusion in peripheral blood lymphocytes or in any of four CD4+ cell lines tested. Although HIV-2ST entered cells by a CD4-dependent mechanism and replicated actively, cell-free transmission of the virus was retarded at the level of cell entry. These findings suggest that immunodeficiency viruses prevalent in West African populations are members of the HIV-2 virus group and that certain strains of this virus have attenuated virulence.
Kong
L I
LI
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Alabama, Birmingham 35294.
Lee
S W
SW
Kappes
J C
JC
Parkin
J S
JS
Decker
D
D
Hoxie
J A
JA
Hahn
B H
BH
Shaw
G M
GM
D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D005814:Genes, Viral; D006678:HIV / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000382:microbiology; D012675:Senegal; D013045:Species Specificity
D004279:DNA, Viral