Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1985. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - Tuesday, July 30, 1985
"It's an important new finding for the virus from a fundamental research point of view," said Dr. William Haseltine of the Harvard School of Public Health. As of now, it has no immediate use in treatment.
The researchers think the genetic switch and a related gene represent a newly recognized kind of control mechanism that throws the virus into frenzied replication.
The study, by Haseltine and Drs. Craig Rosen and Joseph Sodroski of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, was published in the July issue of the journal Cell.
Haseltine speculated that the same viral machinery that makes the virus reproduce explosively also interferes with blood cells' growth and "is actually the killer gene as well as the acceleration gene."
Haseltine said the newly discovered speed-up mechanism may have practical uses in genetic engineering. It could be spliced into bacteria to induce them to speedily produce proteins for vaccines and other purposes.
A similar speed-up apparatus has also been found in HTLV-I, a virus that causes leukemia, and in a few other related viruses. Two other kinds of control mechanisms were recognized earlier. One is the promoter, which starts up the genes, and the other is the enhancer, which controls the rate at which genes operate.
The work also revealed yet another control that slows down the virus. Some scientists call it a silencer. Just how, and when, it works is still unclear.
In a related development, the Food and Drug Administration said Monday that tests might begin soon in the United States on an AIDS drug developed in France.
At least two dozen Americans are currently in France receiving the antiviral drug, HPA-23, for the illness.
An FDA spokesman said the manufacturer of HPA-23 is expected to file a formal application for experimental tests or "compassionate use" of the medication in th United States within a few weeks.
"We will do all we can to expedite the application so they can begin testing as soon as they are ready," FDA spokesman William Grigg said. "That could be within a few weeks or a few months."
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