Saib A
l'INSERM, CNRS UPR9051, Hôpital Saint-Louis, Paris.
Bull Acad Natl Med. 1999;183(3):559-68.
Spumaviruses or foamy viruses belong to the Retroviridae family. Their genomic structure enables to classify them among the complex retroviruses like lentiviruses and the T leukemia viruses. These viruses, discovered 40 years ago, present a large cellular tropism and although highly lytic in vitro, they seem to be innocuous in vivo. However, recent fascinating findings on foamy viruses bring new important biological aspects of general interest for the field of retrovirology and show that these viruses are at the crossroads between retroviruses and pararetroviruses.
泡沫病毒或泡沫状病毒属于逆转录病毒科。它们的基因组结构使其能够被归类为像慢病毒和T白血病病毒这样的复杂逆转录病毒。这些病毒于40年前被发现，具有广泛的细胞嗜性，尽管在体外具有高度溶解性，但它们在体内似乎是无害的。然而，最近关于泡沫病毒的有趣发现为逆转录病毒学领域带来了新的重要生物学方面的普遍关注，并表明这些病毒正处于逆转录病毒和副逆转录病毒的交叉点上。
