United Press International - December 30, 1986

Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases found that an AIDS virus lying dormant in cells could be stimulated into reproducing by exposure to a different family of viruses, DNA viruses. The scientists reported on their work in a new supplement to the December issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Apparently healthy people with a dormant AIDS virus infection could come into contact with a DNA virus, the research indicated, and the newly activated AIDS virus would then overwhelm the immune system, leaving the victim prey to other diseases.

"One of the big issues is what is it that determines why people stay asymptomatic for many years and what makes others go downhill?" said Dr. Malcolm A. Martin, chief of the laboratory of molecular microbiology at the institute. "It could be infections with different viruses, as we have examined, or there may be environmental, diet or hormonal factors." Viruses in Two Families

The AIDS virus is a member of the retrovirus family, a branch of the RNA group of viruses. Their genetic code is made of RNA, ribonucleic acid. Most human viral disease, including the flu, measles and common cold, is caused by RNA viruses, Dr. Martin said.

DNA viruses are those whose genetic code is made of DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid.

Dr. Martin and his colleagues, including Dr. Howard E. Gendelman, a senior scientist at the laboratory, exposed human cells growing in test tubes to the main regulatory element of the AIDS virus and then to a DNA virus. Each time, the genes responsible for controlling reproduction of the AIDS virus were turned on, the scientists reported.

The DNA viruses tested included herpes simplex, responsible for cold sores; adenovirus, responsible for respiratory infections; varicella-zoster, responsible for chicken pox and shingles, and JC virus, which causes degenerative neurological diseases. Possibility of a Pathway

Other researchers also have been looking into the possibility that unrelated viruses prepare a pathway for AIDS infection.

"This is an important observation and confirms the suspicion there are co-factors in the progression and possibly the acquisition of AIDS virus infection," Dr. John Ziegler, director of the AIDS clinical research center at the University of California-San Francisco, said of the new paper.

Only 20 to 30 percent of people infected with HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, develop AIDS. Some do so months after infection, but for others the disease does not appear for years, as many as seven or more.

Although explosive reproduction of the AIDS virus allows it to destroy many of the cells of the immune system, it is not clear how far in advance of symptoms this occurs. Because the virus can remain latent for so long, many scientists believe other microorganisms act as triggers.

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