Isolation of lymphocytopathic retroviruses from San Francisco patients with AIDS
Levy, J.A.; Hoffman, A.D.; Kramer, S.M.; Landis, J.A.; Shimabukuro, J.M.; Oshiro, L.S.
Science 225(4664): 840-842
1984
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 6206563 DOI: 10.1126/science.6206563Document Number: 419699
Infectious retroviruses have been detected in 22 of 45 randomly selected patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and in other individuals from San Francisco. The AIDS-associated retroviruses (ARV) studied in detail had a type D morphology, Mg2+-dependent reverse transcriptase, and cytopathic effects on lymphocytes. The viruses can be propagated in an established adult human T cell line, HUT-78. They cross-react with antiserum to the lymphadenopathy-associated retrovirus isolated from AIDS patients in France. Antibodies to ARV were found in all 86 AIDS patients and in a high percentage of 88 other homosexual men in San Francisco. This observation indicates the widespread presence of these lymphocytopathic retroviruses and their close association with AIDS.