Retrovirus particles with type C morphology were found in two T-cell lymphoblastoid cell lines, HUT 102 and CTCL-3, and in fresh peripheral blood lymphocytes obtained from a patient with a cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (mycosis fungoides).

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) shows extensive genetic variation and undergoes rapid evolution. The fidelity of purified HIV-1 reverse transcriptase was measured during DNA polymerization in vitro by means of three different assays. Reverse transcriptase from HIV-1 introduced base-substitution errors in DNA from the bacteriophage phi X174 amber3 at estimated frequencies of 1/2000 to 1/4000. Analyses of misincorporation rates opposite a single template adenine residue showed that HIV-1 reverse transcriptase catalyzed nucleotide mismatches with a specificity of A:C much greater than A:G greater than A:A. The high error rate of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase in vitro translates to approximately five to ten errors per HIV-1 genome per round of replication in vivo. This high error rate suggests that misincorporation by HIV-1 reverse transcriptase is, at least in part, responsible for the hypermutability of the AIDS virus. The specificity of misincorporation may provide a basis for the systematic construction of antiviral nucleosides.

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We describe a multiplex nucleic acid assay that identifies and determines the abundance of four different pathogenic retroviruses (HIV-1, HIV-2, and human T-lymphotrophic virus types I and II). Retroviral DNA sequences are amplified in a single, sealed tube by simultaneous PCR assays, and the resulting amplicons are detected in real time by the hybridization of four differently colored, amplicon-specific molecular beacons. The color of the fluorescence generated in the course of amplification identifies which retroviruses are present, and the number of thermal cycles required for the intensity of each color to rise significantly above background provides an accurate measure of the number of copies of each retroviral sequence that were present originally in the sample. Fewer than 10 retroviral genomes can be detected. Moreover, 10 copies of a rare retrovirus can be detected in the presence of 100,000 copies of an abundant retrovirus. Ninety-six samples can be analyzed in 3 hr on a single plate, and the use of a closed-tube format eliminates crossover contamination. Utilizing previously well characterized clinical samples, we demonstrate that each of the pathogenic retroviruses can be identified correctly and no false positives occur. This assay enables the rapid and reliable screening of donated blood and transplantable tissues.

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Previous studies have suggested that the loss of DNA sequences on the short arm of chromosome 3 (3p) is associated with small-cell lung carcinoma. We therefore looked for loss of 3p alleles in tumor tissue from 42 patients with either small-cell or non-small-cell lung carcinoma. All 13 patients with small-cell lung carcinoma who were heterozygous for one or more alleles at 3p in normal tissue had the loss of at least one codominant allele in the tumor tissue. Cell lines of small-cell lung carcinoma from an additional eight patients were homozygous for 3p alleles; this result was significantly different from the predicted frequency of homozygosity. The tumor tissue studied included cell lines of small-cell lung carcinoma obtained from biopsy specimens, an autopsy sample, and an excised lymph node containing tumor cells. Loss of alleles at 3p was observed in tumor samples obtained before and after chemotherapy. Four of 15 evaluable patients with non-small-cell carcinoma of the lung had loss of 3p alleles. We conclude that loss of alleles at 3p is a change found consistently in small-cell lung carcinoma and occasionally in non-small-cell lung carcinoma.

Extracellular HIV-1 virions purified from cell culture supernatants have been found to contain viral DNA that is the result of partial reverse transcription within the virus particles. Our data supported these observations and further indicated that the ratio of genomic RNA to viral DNA was approximately 10(3):1 for the "strong stop" (R-U5) region and 10(5):1 for the gag region. We have shown that, in the absence of detergent, large amounts of DNase-resistant viral DNA can be synthesized within intact HIV-1 virions, indicating that this phenomenon is not dependent on perturbation of the viral envelope. Nascent viral DNA synthesis also occurred in purified virions incubated at 37 degrees C in cell-free human physiological fluids including seminal plasma, blood plasma, breast milk, and fecal fluid. In vitro HIV-1 infection assays, in which HIV-1 DNA synthesis was initiated in HIV-1 virions by prior incubation with deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates, demonstrated that virus particles so treated had an increased infectious titer over untreated virions when incubated with target human T cells. Our data suggest that HIV-1 virion-associated DNA synthesis may occur in vivo and may impact on the efficiency of intra- and interhost virus transmission. If so, this phenomenon should prove to be an important target for antiviral therapeutic strategies.