Detection of HTLV-III RNA in lungs of patients with AIDS and pulmonary involvement [published erratum appears in JAMA 1987 Jan 16;257(3):317]

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1987. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Detection of HTLV-III RNA in lungs of patients with AIDS and pulmonary involvement [published erratum appears in JAMA 1987 Jan 16;257(3):317]

JAMA. 1986 Nov 7;256(17):2356-9. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/87037098
Chayt KJ; Harper ME; Marselle LM; Lewin EB; Rose RM; Oleske JM; Epstein LG; Wong-Staal F; Gallo RC

Abstract: A majority of pediatric patients and rare adult patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) develop a chronic respiratory disorder referred to as lymphocytic interstitial pneumonitis (LIP). Efforts to identify an infectious agent responsible for this process so far have failed. In this study, frozen sections of lungs from patients with AIDS and pulmonary disease were tested by in situ molecular hybridization for the presence of cells infected with human T-cell lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV-III) and expressing viral RNA. In the case of an infant with LIP, a relatively high frequency (0.1%) of cells in the lung were found to be positive for HTLV-III RNA. This number is the lower limit of total cells infected since the in situ hybridization technique as applied in this study depends on expression of HTLV-III genes, and previous evidence indicates that a proportion of cells infected with HTLV-III may not express viral RNA. Moreover, this degree of infection of the lung is likely limited to LIP, since in ten patients with AIDS and pulmonary diseases other than LIP, only 0% to 0.002% of cells in lung were positive for viral RNA expression. Thus, HTLV-III may play a direct causal role in the development of LIP in infected patients, implicating its involvement in yet another of the diverse clinical diseases associated with this virus.

Keywords: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/*MICROBIOLOGY/PATHOLOGY Adult Case Report Human HIV/*ISOLATION & PURIF Infant Male Nucleic Acid Hybridization Opportunistic Infections/MICROBIOLOGY Pneumonia/*MICROBIOLOGY/PATHOLOGY Pulmonary Fibrosis/MICROBIOLOGY/PATHOLOGY RNA, Viral/*ANALYSIS JOURNAL ARTICLE

870228
M8720173

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