Elusive HIV-Suppressor Factors Found

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Elusive HIV-Suppressor Factors Found

Science (12/08/95) Vol. 270, No. 5242, P. 1560
Balter, Michael

Former National Cancer Institute researcher Robert Gallo recently announced that a team led by himself and Italian scientist Paolo Lusso found three closely related polypeptides that shut down production of many strains of HIV-1, HIV-2, and SIV in laboratory cultures. The three so-called chemokines-- known as RANTES, MIP1-(alpha), and MIP1-(beta)--work together to produce the Levy effect, named after virologist Jay Levy who first reported that these cells can suppress HIV replication. There has been considerable enthusiasm for Gallo's discovery, yet Levy himself has voiced his dissent. "I'm gratified that people are turning to look at what we have been working on," Levy said. "But if they say it's the factor I've been working on for the past five years, they've got the wrong ones." Levy and other researchers showed in 1989 that CD8 cells suppressed replication by secreting a "factor," which no one has been able to identify. In a recent interview with Science magazine, Levy noted that he had previously tested the three proteins as potential "factor" candidates and had rejected them. Still, Levy agreed that the three chemokines may be useful in antiviral therapy for HIV-infected individuals. Gallo claims his discovery is in fact Levy's factor because his team followed Levy's published protocols in preparing their own experiments.

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