AEGiS-WSJ: Cancer Virus Tied To Aids May Be Disclosed Soon

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1984. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Cancer Virus Tied To Aids May Be Disclosed Soon

Wall Street Journal - April 16, 1984
Marilyn Chase, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Speculation is mounting in the medical community that researchers soon will announce discovery of a new variation of a human cancer virus that may cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome, the fatal disease marked by the collapse of the victim's immune system.

The virus in question, Human T-cell Leukemia Virus, or HTLV, has been suspected of causing AIDS since it was isolated in an AIDS victim last year. The virus is linked with cancer in Japan and in the black populations of the Caribbean. It also is known to attack certain of the body's most critical immunological defenses, called Human T-lymphocytes. The absence of the T-cells in AIDS victims is one or the disease's most striking immunological disturbances.

So far, two variants of HTLV have been reported. Dr. Robert C. Gallo, chief of the National Cancer Institute's Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology, and the man who first isolated HTLV in an AIDS patient, said it is "premature" to comment on speculation that researchers at the National Institutes of Health have found a third form more closely linked to AIDS. But other investigators expect an announcement soon.

"I think (HTLV) has to be considered the leading candidate (as a cause of AIDS) at this time," said Dr. Myron Essex, professor of microbiology and chairman of the Department of Cancer Biology of the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Essex's research shows that in 17 cases of victims who contracted AIDS, two-thirds of the patients clearly had been exposed to HTLV. And in cases of patients who contracted AIDS as the result of a blood transfusion, nine of the 12 donors demonstrated exposure to HTLV.

"It's quite significant statistically that we wouldn't find that through chance alone," he said, noting that in healthy "control groups," the incidence of such exposure was only 1%.

"All of the epidemiological evidence is that AIDS is caused by a single new agent or an agent that's newly introduced to the Western World within the last four to five years," Dr. Essex said. "The only way you could explain that is through a new virus or a new mutant variation of an existing virus."

Other researchers urge caution in attributing AIDS to HTLV. Whatever it is that destroys the body's immune system makes the victim vulnerable to a wide range of other diseases, including pneumonia, rare forms of cancer, and other so-called opportunistic infections. Dr. James Curran of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta notes that it isn't clear whether HTLV is a cause of AIDS or is "simply another opportunistic infection."

But Dr. Curran said that work in the U. S. and in France's Pasteur Institute combined to convince him that HTLV is "a good lead."

In any event, the discovery of a cause for AIDS doesn't necessarily mean that a cure for or a means to prevent the disease would be forthcoming. Dr. Paul Volberding, chief of oncology at San Francisco General Hospital and head of the hospital's AIDS clinic, points out that it took 10 years to develop a vaccine to prevent hepatitus B after the virus was isolated.

"The important thing to remember is that finding the virus wouldn't change treatment for at least five years," he said. "But at least it would let us know how the disease is transmitted. That would be useful in targeting potential sources, in screening of blood donors, and in urging behavorial modification in the gay community," where AIDS has been particularly prevalent.

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