Perspectives on retroviruses and the etiologic agent of AIDS

In 1911, the first retrovirus was described: the Rous sarcoma virus, an avian retrovirus. Forty years later the murine leukemic virus, a mouse retrovirus, was reported. Although many other retroviruses from non-primate species were identified during the 1960s, the first primate retrovirus was not recognized until it was isolated from a monkey tumor in 1970. The search for human retroviruses in human leukemic cells remained unsuccessful at that time. Facilitated by the discovery of T-cell growth factor, a substance used for the propagation of human leukocytes in cultures, the first human retrovirus was discovered in 1980. Soon thereafter, in 1983, another human retrovirus, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), was reported and implicated as the etiologic agent of AIDS. The isolation and identification of HIV has stimulated much interest in the study of human retroviruses and the control of this new viral disease.