Fisher A G, Collalti E, Ratner L, Gallo R C, Wong-Staal F
Nature. 1985;316(6025):262-5. doi: 10.1038/316262a0.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is an epidemic immunosuppressive disease characteristically associated with a depletion of T lymphocytes of the helper/inducer phenotype. Numerous converging lines of research have implicated a human T-cell lymphotropic retrovirus, HTLV-III, in the pathogenesis of AIDS. Recently, several distinct forms of the HTLV-III genome were molecularly cloned in phage and extensively characterized. In the present study, a clone containing full-length HTLV-III proviral DNA was inserted into a plasmid and used to transfect cord blood T cells from normal newborn humans. We demonstrate that this molecular clone is infectious in vitro and causes marked cytopathic effects on T-cell cultures. This is the first direct evidence that the HTLV-III genome, rather than a minor component of the virus complex, is cytopathic for T cells. Using this biologically competent clone and mutants derived from it, it should now be possible to localize the subgenomic regions that contribute to the biological effects of HTLV-III.
获得性免疫缺陷综合征（艾滋病）是一种流行性免疫抑制疾病，其特征是与辅助/诱导表型的T淋巴细胞耗竭有关。众多相互关联的研究线索表明，一种人类嗜T细胞逆转录病毒，即HTLV-III，参与了艾滋病的发病机制。最近，HTLV-III基因组的几种不同形式在噬菌体中进行了分子克隆并得到了广泛表征。在本研究中，一个包含全长HTLV-III前病毒DNA的克隆被插入到一个质粒中，并用于转染正常新生儿的脐血T细胞。我们证明这个分子克隆在体外具有感染性，并对T细胞培养物产生明显的细胞病变效应。这是第一个直接证据，表明HTLV-III基因组而非病毒复合物的次要成分对T细胞具有细胞病变作用。利用这个具有生物学活性的克隆及其衍生的突变体，现在应该能够定位出对HTLV-III生物学效应有贡献的亚基因组区域。
