Characterization of a novel simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) from L'Hoest monkeys (Cercopithecus l'hoesti): implications for the origins of SIVmnd and other primate lentiviruses.

ABSTRACT: The human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 (HIV-1 and HIV-2) appear to have originated by cross-species transmission of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) from asymptomatically infected African primates. Few of the SIVs characterized to date efficiently infect human primary lymphocytes. Interesting, two of the three identified to infect such cultures (SIVsm and SIVcpz) have appeared in human populations as genetically related HIVs. In the present study, we characterized a novel SIV isolate from an East African monkey of the Cercopithecus genus, the l'hoest monkey (C. l'hoesti), which we designated SIVlhoest. This SIV isolate efficiently infected both human and macaque lymphocytes and resulted in a persistent infection of macaques, characterized by high primary virus load and a progres

SUBMITTER: Hirsch VM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC103923 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature