NZB/NZW mice were treated with various immunosuppressive drugs used in human SLE. Cyclophosphamide (5 mg/kg 6 days out of 7), alone or with prednisolone, was better than azathioprine, prednisolone, or azathioprine-plus-prednisolone, in prolonging survival and/or reducing proteinuria, Coomb's antibodies, antinuclear antibodies, and glomerular deposits of gamma-globulin. Intermittent bolus therapy with cyclophosphamide (59 mg/kg/10 days) was as effective as daily therapy. However, 61% of the mice receiving any cyclophosphamide regimen developed malignant tumors compared to none in the other groups.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Letter: Lithium heparin crystals simulating CPPD crystals.

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Crystallization↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of altered lymphocyte function on immunologic disorders in NZB/NZW mice.

NZB/NZW F1 female mice were treated with the immunosuppresive enzyme L-asparaginar antibodies, diminished deposition of gamma-globulins in kidneys, significantly delayed the onset of proteinuria, and reduced deaths from nephritis. These effects were associated with reduction of cellular IgM antibody synthesis to both T-dependent and T-independent antigens, but the graft-versus-host reaction was not affected. After several weeks of therapy, antibodies against Asnase appeared in the circulation, the effect on antibody synthesis was lost, ANA and anti-DNA appeared, followed by proteinuria and deaths from nephritis. Therefore Asnase proved to be an effective therapy in NZB/NZW mice, but its usefulness was limited by the appearance of inactivating antibodies.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Molecular cloning and characterization of the HTLV-III virus associated with AIDS.

We recently reported the isolation and characterization of a novel human T-lymphotropic retrovirus, HTLV-III, in patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and in those at risk for the disease. After extensive sero-epidemiological studies, together with numerous virus isolations from these patients, we concluded that HTLV-III is the causative agent of AIDS. Here we report the molecular cloning and characterization of two highly related but distinct forms of the HTLV-III genome. The viral genome is approximately 10 kilobases long and is detected in HTLV-III-infected cells but not in uninfected cells, including normal human tissue, indicating that this virus is exogenous to man. We also demonstrate distant nucleic acid sequence homology between the cloned genome of HTLV-III and those of HTLV-I and HTLV-II. The availability of the cloned HTLV-III genome will now allow an unambiguous comparison of this virus with other retroviruses that also have been associated with the pathogenesis of AIDS, and moreover, with facilitate the development of diagnostic and therapeutic measures in the treatment of AIDS.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Relation of HTLV-4 to simian and human immunodeficiency-associated viruses.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is the aetiologic agent of AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) in most countries and probably originated in Central Africa like the AIDS epidemic itself. Evidence for a second major group of human immunodeficiency-associated retroviruses came from a report that West African human populations like wild-caught African green monkeys had serum antibodies that reacted more strongly with a simian immunodeficiency virus (STLV-3Mac) (ref.6) than with HIV-1. Novel T-lymphotropic retroviruses were reported to have been isolated from healthy Senegalese West Africans (HTLV-4) (ref. 4) and from African green monkeys (STLV-3AGM) (ref. 7), and a different retrovirus (HIV-2) was identified in other West African AIDS patients. Genomic analysis of HIV-2 clearly distinguished it from STLV-3 (ref. 9), but restriction enzyme site-mapping of three different HTLV-4 isolates and six different STLV-3AGM isolates showed them to be essentially indistinguishable. In this report we clone, restriction map, and partially sequence three isolates of HTLV-4 (PK82, PK289, PK190) (ref. 4). We find that these viruses differ in nucleotide sequence from each other and from three isolates of STLV-3AGM (K78, K6W, K1) (ref. 7) by 1% or less. We also report the isolation of a T-lymphotropic retrovirus from the peripheral blood of a healthy Senegalese woman which hybridizes preferentially to HIV-2 specific DNA probes. We conclude that HTLV-4 (ref. 4) and STLV-3AGM (ref. 7) are not independent virus isolates and that HIV-2 is present in Senegal as it is in other West African countries.

Base Sequence↗