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LAV/HTLV-III has been closely linked to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). We have studied and correlated the prevalence of AIDS-associated retrovirus and retroviral antibodies in several groups of male homosexuals from Greenwich Village. Retrovirus was detected in cultured peripheral blood lymphocytes by testing for reverse transcriptase (RT) and confirmed by establishment of virus-producer cell lines, and electron microscopy. Seventy-six percent of patients with AIDS, 93% with AIDS-related complex (ARC), 69% with generalized lymphadenopathy (LAS), and 35% of asymptomatic homosexuals were positive for virus in the RT assay. Transmission of the virus from RT-positive lymphocytes into the CEM cell line was successful in 10 of 11 randomly chosen cases. No virus isolates were obtained from lymphocytes of 8 heterosexual individuals. Serum antibodies against AIDS-associated virus were detected by indirect immunofluorescence assay and confirmed by Western blotting, using an LAV/HTLV-III-producer cell line, LAV-N1, which we established. LAV/N1 virus was purified by ultracentrifugation through sucrose gradient and the pattern of its proteins was determined by SDS-gel electrophoresis and Western blotting using sera from an AIDS patient. The major polypeptides of LAV/HTLV-III (19, 25-27, 32, 42 and 54 kilodalton) were present. These proteins did not react in Western blots with sera positive for Adult T cell leukemia virus (ATLV). thus, LAV-N1 and ATLV were not antigenically related. In our assay for LAV/HTLV-III antibodies, 18 (100%) of patients with AIDS, 13 (100%) of patients with ARC, 24 (69%) of 35 patients with LAS and 9 (39%) of 23 asymptomatic homosexuals were sero-positive. Heterosexual controls were negative. All IF-positive sera tested by Western blot contained antibodies against specific viral proteins. High titers (greater than or equal to 1:1280) of serum antibodies against LAV/HTLV-III virus were detected in 71% of AIDS patients, 62% with ARC, 38% LAS and 13% among asymptomatic homosexuals. Our data show that the presence of LAV/HTLV-III antibodies correlates with the presence of infectious virus. Antibody titers may also correlate with progression toward AIDS.

All AIDS retroviruses isolated from different patients have shown degrees of heterogeneity as defined by restriction fragment polymorphisms. Despite this variability, all these virus isolates share a number of structural features, including immunological cross-reactivity of virally encoded proteins. In this paper, we compare restriction patterns of integrated proviral DNA from viral isolates of patients belonging to different geographical groups, at risk or not for the disease. We confirm the existence of different clones in the same isolate of the Lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV) and of Human T lymphotropic virus (HTLV-III), which are identical. One of these forms is very similar to a Haitian isolate, as well as to an isolate from an early recognized New York case, suggesting a common origin for these viruses. More variation is apparent with Zairian viral isolates, and one of two clones found in a virus from a child who received an allogeneic bone marrow transplant. Greater disparity was also found in the restriction pattern of an isolate from an individual belonging to none of the so-called high-risk groups. We also show that this variation occurs mainly but not only in the env region of the genome, as previously described.