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 June 10, 1988
Jay Levy, leader of the University of California at San Francisco team that made the discovery, said Thursday that the newly isolated strain may be an important tool in the development of an effective drug against the AIDS virus.
A University of Alabama-Birmingham team isolated still another new virus strain from the family that causes AIDS-like disease in Africa. George Shaw, leader of that team, said it appears to be less virulent than virus strains identified earlier.
Both studies of the new virus strains are reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
The new strains found by the researchers are both strains of human immunodeficiency virus two, or HIV-2. This virus is a subtype of the HIV-1 that is blamed for the AIDS epidemic in the United States.
HIV-1 and HIV-2 have been found in AIDS patients in Africa, but only one patient has been found in the United States to be infected with HIV-2. That patient, who died in this country, is believed to have been infected in Africa.
Levy said his group isolated its strain of HIV-2 from a blood sample taken from a native of Mali who was hospitalized in Ivory Coast, a West African nation.
He said the patient suffered from chronic diarrhea and weight loss and died last fall from neurologic complications, all symptoms seen in AIDS patients. But Levy said the researchers are unable to say how the virus caused these disease symptoms.
"In the laboratory, the virus doesn't have the characteristic of any virus we've seen in AIDS because it doesn't kill cells," he said.
"But we have to remind ourselves that it came from a patient who died with the clinical disease of AIDS."
In laboratory studies of U.S. AIDS cases, the HIV-1 virus has been found to infect cells in the blood, brain, bowel and bone marrow, and to kill cells in the immune system. Levy said that while the new strain of HIV-2 will infect cells in laboratory tests, it will not kill the cells.
"It doesn't have to kill (cells) to cause disease," he said.
He suggested that the new strain may infect cells of the brain and bowel and paralyze the cellular function, or force the cells to make products that are toxic to the body.
Shaw said the HIV-2 strain found by his group was isolated from a blood sample taken from a healthy prostitute in Senegal, West Africa. Although the virus is clearly a member of the family that causes AIDS, he said, the Alabama strain is far less virulent and does not kill human cells in laboratory experiments.
Shaw said his team is looking at the genetic differences that cause one type of HIV virus to kill infected cells, while another strain does not.
Howard Streicher, one of the leading AIDS researchers at the National Institutes of Health, said that isolation of the two strains of HIV-2 virus is an important advance in the war against the killer disease.
"HIV-1 causes disease in everybody it infects, but that's not clear yet with HIV-2, although it can be a deadly virus," Streicher said.
By isolating the different strains, he said, "it provides us the tools for looking at the way these viruses kill by enabling us to compare the different way they work."
This could eventually be the key to developing a drug to resist infection by the whole family of AIDS-related viruses, Streicher said.
AIDS is spread mostly through homosexual contact and from needles shared by drug abusers. It also can be spread through infected blood transfusions and from a birthing mother to her child.
880610
AP880604
Copyright © 1988 - Associated Press. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the AP Permissions Desk.
AEGiS is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-exempt, educational corporation. AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted funding from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Elton John AIDS Foundation, National Library of Medicine, Pacific Life Foundation, and donations from users like you.
Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1988. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.
Copyright ©1980, 1988. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .