ANALOGY OF HIV-1 TO ONCOGENIC VIRUSES - POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS FOR THEPATHOGENESIS OF AIDS

The aim of this article is to present a new view of the immunopatholog y of AIDS based on an analogy between oncogenic viruses and HIV-1. Thi s analogy is based on several properties that are common to the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein gp120 and human immunoglobulins, It has been spe culated that sequence similarity between the immunoglobulins and HIV-1 gp120 makes possible illegitimate recombination between gene fragment s encoding this viral protein and host immunoglobulin genes. A possibl e mechanism of immunopathogenesis of AIDS based on deregulation of the immune network by HIV-1 gp120 and the possible consequences of this v iew on AIDS vaccine design is discussed. Also, attention is directed t o the additional potential for diverse genetic effects of HIV sequence s as retrotransposons inserted throughout the human genome.