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Bridging the gap: human diploid cell strains and the origin of AIDS
1International DNCB Study Group, San Francisco, CA 94108, USA.
Recent descriptions of the first human and chimpanzee cases of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-related retroviral infections dating from 1959 have stirred interest in the origin of AIDS. Although the theory of a chimpanzee origin of HIV-1 with cross-species transfer to man has now gained popularity, a more likely scenario is that chimps and humans were infected by an HIV-1 precursor virus derived from a contaminated poliovaccine. The reason for the rapidity and ease of cross-species transfer of this precursor virus has not been elucidated. We hypothesize that the poliovaccine was passaged in a human diploid cell strain. This simple manipulation allowed the retrovirus to adapt to human tissues and may have spawned the AIDS pandemic.
Recent descriptions of the first human and chimpanzee cases of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-related retroviral infections dating from 1959 have stirred interest in the origin of AIDS. Although the theory of a chimpanzee origin of HIV-1 with cross-species transfer to man has now gained popularity, a more likely scenario is that chimps and humans were infected by an HIV-1 precursor virus derived from a contaminated poliovaccine. The reason for the rapidity and ease of cross-species transfer of this precursor virus has not been elucidated. We hypothesize that the poliovaccine was passaged in a human diploid cell strain. This simple manipulation allowed the retrovirus to adapt to human tissues and may have spawned the AIDS pandemic.
