PRODUCTION OF REFERENCE REAGENTS FOR SAIDS AND STLV-III

TWO DISTINCT, VIRALLY INDUCED INFECTIONS IN NONHUMAN PRIMATES THAT CAUSE SUBSTANTIAL MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY AND HAVE CLINICAL RELEVANCE TO THE HUMAN AIDS VIRUS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED RECENTLY. THE FIRST, DESIGNATED SAIDS, IS CAUSED BY A VARIETY OF CLOSELY RELATED TYPE D VIRUSES. THE SECOND IS INDUCED BY A LENTIVIRUS, WHICH IS MORPHOLOGICALLY,BIOLOGICALLY, AND SEROLOGICALLY RELATED TO HUMAN HTLV-III AND HTLV-IV AND IS DESIGNATED STLV-III. THESE VIRUSES ARE IMPORTANT BECAUSE THEY: (A) INFECT MANY NONHUMAN PRIMATES AND MAY HAVE MAJOR EFFECTS ON EXPERIMENTATION IN THESE SPECIES AND (B) CAN SERVE AS POTENTIAL MODELS FOR EXAMINING THE BIOLOGY, PATHOGENESIS, AND POTENTIAL THERAPY OF AIDS-LIKE DISEASES. MICROBIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATES, INC. PROPOSES TO GROW ISOLATES OF THE SAIDS VIRUSES (SRV-1 AND SRV-2) IN RAJI CELLS AND THE STLV-III VIRUS IN HUT-78 CELLS. STANDARDIZED REAGENTS (I.E., VIRALLY INFECTED CELLS, HOMOLOGOUS ANTISERA FROM INFECTED MONKEYS, AND HETEROLOGOUS ANTISERA FROM RABBITS IMMUNIZED WITH WHOLE VIRUS ISOLATES) WOULD BE CHARACTERIZED.THESE REAGENTS COULD THEN BE USED TO DEVELOP ASSAYS FOR THE RAPID IDENTIFICATION OF ANIMALS EXPOSED TO THE VIRUS.