Isolation and partial characterization of an unusual human immunodeficiency retrovirus from two persons of west-central African origin.

An unusual human retrovirus was isolated from two patients with persistent generalized lymphadenopathy who originate from West-Central Africa and are currently residing in Belgium. Although the virus shared a number of the same biological and morphological properties as human immunodeficiency retrovirus type 1 (HIV-1) and HIV-2, significant antigenic differences could be demonstrated. Several of the viral proteins also differed in molecular weight from the corresponding HIV-1 and HIV-2 proteins. Partial chemical cleavage of the most highly conserved viral proteins resulted in patterns which differed from those of HIV-1 and HIV-2. Furthermore, nucleic acid hybridization experiments were capable of discriminating between the virus types. Sequence analysis of the viral U3 region revealed a unique enhancer organization not found in other immunodeficiency viruses. The data indicated that the new isolate is more closely related to HIV-1 than to HIV-2 but clearly differs in a number of important respects.