Isolation and characterization of HIV-2 from an AIDS patient in Ghana

This report describes the isolation and characterization of a retrovirus of the HIV-2 group from a Ghanaian AIDS patient which has different restriction patterns from previously reported HIV-2 viruses. The virus was morphologically very similar to HIV-1 and HIV-2, and had Mg2+-dependent reverse transcriptase. Like previous HIV isolates, it induced severe cytopathic effects in CD4-positive human lymphoid cell lines. Its major proteins were shown to be gp110, p66, p55, p41, gp32, p30 and p26 by Western blot analysis. In dot-blot hybridization experiments, the virus hybridized with a HIV-2 DNA probe, but not with HIV-1 and SIVagm probes in stringent conditions. These data indicate that this Ghanaian virus is a HIV-2 group virus. However, in a Southern blot hybridization experiment, the restriction patterns of this virus, designated HIV-2 [GH-1], were quite different from those of previously reported HIV-2 viruses from West Africa isolated at the Pasteur Institute.