2nd National Conference Human Retroviruses and Related Infections Washington, DC - January 29 - February 2, 1995

Natl Conf Hum Retrovir Relat Infect 1995 Jan 29-Feb 2;2: (abstract no. 17)

Kirchhoff F¹, Greenough TC², Brettler DB³, Sullivan JL¹, Desrosiers RC^1
1New England Regional Primate Research Center, Harvard Medical School, Southborough, MA 01772-9102; ²University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605; and ³Memorial Hospital, Worcester, MA 01605

Viral and/or host factors are suspected to be responsible for the lack of disease progression in some HIV-infected individuals. Since may HIV-1 infections appear to result from only one or a few infectious virus particles, we reasoned that partially defective or attenuated strains of HIV-1 may be all that is transmitted in some cases. HIV-1 nef sequences were amplified from five individuals with hemophilia who have maintained stable CD4+ T-lymphocyte concentrations for more than ten years of infection. Full-size nef genes predominated in four of the subjects. Thirty-four of 34 positive reactions from blood samples obtained in 1983, 1986, 1989 and 1993 from one individual yields only deleted, defective forms of nef. The clinical and virologic characteristics of the HIV-1 infection in this individual are strikingly similar to the characteristics of rhesus monkey infection with a strain of SIV deleted in nef. These results suggest that infection with nef-defective, attenuated forms of HIV-1 may be responsible for the lack of disease progression in some individuals. The results also provide further justification for considering use of HIV-1 deletion mutants as live-attenuated vaccines.

Keywords: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Base Sequence, Disease Progression, Genes, nef, HIV, HIV Envelope Protein gp120, HIV Infections, HIV Seropositivity, HIV-1, Hemophilia A, Simian immunodeficiency virus, Survivors, genetics, immunology

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1995-01-29
17

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