Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1988. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press; Friday January 8, 1988
George Pavlakis, an institute researcher, said Thursday that he and Barbara Felber, another scientist, developed the AIDS test by using genetically altered human cells that react to the presence of the virus that causes AIDS, HIV, by secreting an enzyme.
Pavlakis said the bioassay is so accurate that it can detect 10 cells infected by HIV in a sample of more than a million unaffected cells. "It is a speedier process for detecting the presence of functional HIV," he said. "And it is very accurate."
Pavlakis said he and Felber developed the test by inserting a bacterial gene that produces an enzyme into a portion of the genetic pattern of HIV.
This recombined genetic pattern then was inserted into the genes of two types of human cells that are susceptible to HIV infection.
The result is that the engineered human cells now secrete the bacterial enzyme whenever the cells encounter an HIV infection.
"This gives us a signal that we can measure very, very reliably," Pavlakis said. By measuring the amount of enzyme secreted by the test cells, he said, the process tells if there has been an HIV infection and how active the virus has become.
Current tests for HIV, or AIDS, depend upon measurement of antibodies, a natural response to the virus.
But antibodies may not develop for many months after an infection, and they are an indirect indication of the virus activity. Pavlakis said his test measures the presence of the virus directly.
"Even in the absence of antibodies, this test will pick up active HIV," he said.
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