Dear Shahram:
Thanx for the reply!! Yeah, I knew that was the question of the year
when I wrote it. However, I don't think that this question does not have
any leads (not that you suggested that it didn't either). I was thinking
and wondering if there are evolutionary consequences for HIV-1
pathogenesis in terms of its ability to cause disease in other non-human
primates. In other words, if HIV-1 evolved within humans for some time
(how long I will not speculate, although I would agree with the good
doctor Paul Ewald that HIV-1 has probably been around for quite some time
roaiming in some remote African population we have yet to discover) than
are there consequences resulting from host-parasite relationships
(hiv-1-human in this case) that manifest in terms of virulence and
pathogenicity???
Currently, we are beginning to design a set of experiments to address the
issue of host specificities and resistance to infection (in vitro as well
as in vivo). I was also wondering if anyone has looked at the
development of HIV-1 quasispecies in HIV-1 infected chmips? Do you know
of any study published or non-published that addressed genetic variation
of HIV-1 in chimps in vivo??
Anyway thanx for your response and I hope to hear from you soon....
On 30 Dec 1994, Shahram Mori wrote:
> Janet Cox (janet at KB.USM.MY) wrote:
> : I wonder how controlled the living conditions of these experimental
> : chimps is? Are they fed an optimum diet? Are they regularly seen by a vet.
> : I assume the answers to these questions has to be yes. I then wonder how
> : does the living environment and exposure to opportune pathogens of these
> : chimps relate to that of people exposed to or infected with HIV? However
> : cruel it may seem I think the living conditions,diet, environment etc. of
> : the chimps should simulate that of the people at risk and
> : then expose the chimps to HIV to see if the symptoms associatedwith AIDs
> : develop. This experiment if not already done (appologies if this strategy
> : has been adopted with the chimp exps) may help address the question
> : of co-factors. It could
> : however be that the chimp lymphocytes while infected still function. I
> : expect that this exp. has been carried out. Just some thoughts - did you
> : get much feed back to this question- I hope so? Regards, Janet.
> Janet,
> At primate research Lab ( white sands research center) here in New Mexico,
> The primates do NOT live in sterile conditions. They are in contact with
> the Vets and other general care people, whom are the best resevoir for
> transfer of opportunistic infections. Remember we do not see a decrease in
> T-cell counts in Chimpanzees.
>>> : On 17 Dec 1994, Naomi Gayle Housman wrote:
>> : >
> : > I have been doing some preliminary reading on HIV-1 infection of
> : > Chimpanzees. I was wondering if anyone has any insight into why
> : > chimpanzees don't develop AIDS after infection with HIV-1, despite the
> : > relatively high viral burden in lymph nodes and PBL???
> : >
> : >
> : > nhousma at unix.cc.emory.edu> Naomi,
> This is the 100 000 000... question. You find the answer to this you'll win
> a noble prize in medicine. I am working on this. :)
> Cheers,
>> --
> Shahram Mori _/\_
> Program in Molecular Biology _\ /_
> Dept. of chemistry and Biochemistry Box 3C \_ _/
> NMSU Las Cruces NM ||
> 88003
>>>>
