Simian Virus Mimics HIV Disease Course.(Brief Article)

2001 MAR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) --

by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Assessing the usefulness of new HIV vaccines depends in large part on the animals in which they are tested. The more closely their disease mimics human HIV, the more accurate the results.

Now researchers at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York have isolated a simian HIV virus that appears to follow the same course as human immunodeficiency virus culminating in AIDS.

"Nonhuman primate models are increasingly used in the screening of candidate AIDS vaccine and immunization strategies for advancement to large-scale human trials," reported J.M. Harouse and colleagues. "The predictive value of such macaque studies is largely dependent upon the fidelity of the model system in mimicking human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 infection in terms of viral transmission, replication, and pathogenesis."

The researchers infected female rhesus macaques with CCR5-specific simian/HIV SHIVSF162P3 administered to the cervicovaginal mucosa. The monkeys showed viral replication, loss of CD4(+) cells, and ultimately, development of opportunistic infections that closely mirrored HIV progression to AIDS ("Mucosal transmission and induction of simian AIDS by CCR5-specific simian/human immunodeficiency virus SHIVSF162P3," ...