Document 0405
 DOCN  M9620405
 TI    Functional characterization of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 nef
       genes in patients with divergent rates of disease progression.
 DT    9602
 AU    Michael NL; Chang G; d'Arcy LA; Tseng CJ; Birx DL; Sheppard HW; Division
       of Retrovirology, Walter Reed Army Institute of; Research, Rockville,
       Maryland 20850, USA.
 SO    J Virol. 1995 Nov;69(11):6758-69. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
       MED/96013770
 AB    We have studied the sequence and function of the human immunodeficiency
       virus type 1 (HIV-1) nef genes from nine patients with highly divergent
       rates of disease progression enrolled in a longitudinal study of HIV
       disease. Over an average of 7.8 years of follow-up, three patients had
       net positive changes in CD4+ T-cell counts, three patients had net
       negative changes in CD4+ T cells but did not develop AIDS, and three
       patients progressed to AIDS. The nef gene from each of these patients
       was amplified and cloned, and the sequence of 8 to 10 clones was
       determined. Only 2 of 88 (2.3%) nef genes recovered from these nine
       patients were grossly defective. Moreover, there was no relationship
       between the phylogeny of nef sequences and the corresponding rates of
       disease progression from these patients. Representative nef genes from
       all nine patients were tested for their abilities to downregulate cell
       surface CD4 in a transient-transfection assay. There was no correlation
       found between the functions of the nef genes from these patients and
       their corresponding rates of disease progression. We conclude that the
       nef gene is not a common mediator of the rate of HIV disease progression
       in natural infection.
 DE    Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/IMMUNOLOGY/VIROLOGY  Adult  Amino
       Acid Sequence  Base Sequence  Comparative Study  CD4 Lymphocyte Count
       Disease Progression  DNA Primers  Follow-Up Studies  *Genes, nef  Human
       HIV Infections/*IMMUNOLOGY/*VIROLOGY  HIV
       Seropositivity/*IMMUNOLOGY/*VIROLOGY  HIV-1/*GENETICS  Male  Middle Age
       Molecular Sequence Data  Phylogeny  Polymerase Chain Reaction  Support,
       U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.  Time Factors  Transfection  Variation (Genetics)
       JOURNAL ARTICLE

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