Current HIV Research - Volume 8, Issue 1, 2010

According to the UNAIDS 2008 global fact sheet an estimated 33 million people were living with HIV in 2007. This same year saw approximately 2.7 million new HIV infections as well as 2 million AIDS-related deaths. For over twenty years, regardless of our growing understanding of the many characteristics of HIV, ultimate control of the virus and its disease still eludes us. Since its original classification in the early 1980s we ha Read More

The bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) was isolated in 1969 from a cow, R-29, with a wasting syndrome suggesting bovine leucosis. The virus, first designated bovine visna-like virus, remained unstudied until HIV was discovered in 1983. Then, it was demonstrated in 1987 that the bovine R-29 isolate was a lentivirus with striking similarity to the human immunodeficieny virus (HIV). Moreover, BIV has the most complex geno Read More

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) discovered in 1986 is a lentivirus that causes AIDS in domestic cats. FIV is classified into five subtypes (A-E), and all subtypes and circulating intersubtype recombinants have been identified throughout the world. A commercial FIV vaccine, consisting of inactivated subtype-A and -D viruses (Fel-O-Vax FIV, Fort Dodge Animal Health), was released in the United States in 2002. The United St Read More

Small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLV) and human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are related retroviruses that cause multisystem disease usually over a long period of time. The viruses show similarities and differences in biological and pathogenic features. The basic retroviral genomic organization is complicated by the presence of a variable number of accessory genes in both viruses, though the structure is more complex in HIV. B Read More

Jembrana disease virus (JDV) is the most recently discovered member of the lentivirus family and causes an acute clinical disease in Bali cattle with a fatality rate of approximately 15%. It is genetically related to bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) to the extent that infections cannot yet be differentially diagnosed using serological assays due to cross-reacting epitopes. Despite their close genetic relationship the pathogenesis Read More

Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is a macrophage-tropic lentivirus that rapidly induces disease in experimentally infected horses. Because EIAV infection and replication is centered on the monocyte/macrophage and has a pronounced acute disease stage, it is a useful model system for understanding the contribution of monocyte/macrophages to other lentivirus-induced diseases. Genetic mapping studies utilizing chimeri Read More

FIV is a significant pathogen in the cat and is, in addition, the smallest available natural model for the study of lentivirus infections. Although divergent at the amino acid level, the cat lentivirus has an abundance of structural and pathophysiological commonalities with HIV and thus serves well as a model for development of intervention strategies relevant to infection in both cats and man. The following review highlights bo Read More

Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) and its associated disease have presented a considerable challenge to veterinary medicine worldwide ever since its identification in the 19th century. Furthermore EIAV, along with its fellow animal lentiviruses, has been utilized as an animal model of HIV-1/AIDS research since the latters identification in the late 20th century. Like all lentiviruses, EIAV has been shown to have a high propensi Read More

Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is one of the most divergent members of the lentivirus subfamily of retroviruses and is considered a useful comparative model for molecular studies of lentivirus replication. The Rev protein of EIAV is functionally homologous with other lentiviral Revs and facilitates export of incompletely spliced viral mRNAs through a Crm1-dependent pathway. The trans- and cis-acting elements that medi Read More

Lentiviruses from distinct animal species have in common their genomic organization, the induction of slowly progressive diseases over months or years, the large spectrum of induced symptoms and concerned organs, the frequent inapparent infection without any detectable clinical signs, their ability to persist into their hosts despite an often strong and mature immune response. Lentiviruses are also characterized by their geno Read More