Subject: Scientists Take A Possible Step To AIDS Vaccine
Date: Published: 2/7/86 75 lines
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

   Scientists Take
   A Possible Step
   To AIDS Vaccine
    ---
   Genentech Team Synthesizes
   Major Protein That Coats
   Virus Causing the Disease
    ---
   By Marilyn Chase
   Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

   PARK CITY, Utah -- A team of scientists at Genentech Inc. 
has taken what may become an important first step toward
producing a genetically engineered vaccine against acquired
immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. 
   Larry A. Lasky, a senior scientist at the South San
Francisco, Calif., gene-splicing company, told a conference
here that his team successfully synthesized a major protein
that coats the AIDS virus.  Some believe that the protein,
named gp120, stands a good chance of sparking protective
immunity because it helps to form the virus's outer coat or
envelope.  The coating is that part of the virus first "seen"
by the body's immune system and thus is likely to stimulate
antibodies that would later fight the AIDS virus if a person
were exposed to it.
   Wary of arousing premature hopes, Dr. Lasky emphatically
warned, "Don't say that we've got the AIDS vaccine in hand."
   The protein currently is being tested in rabbits and
rodents before tests progress to monkeys and chimps, Mr. 
Lasky said.  But he noted that it is far too early to
speculate on its effectiveness.
   Genentech's methods, kept secret for proprietary reasons,
involved splicing the viral gene into hamster cells that then
produce the protein.
   Although it isn't the first prototype AIDS vaccine under
development, it is believed to be the first genetically
engineered vaccine to be announced to the scientific
community.  A gene-spliced vaccine could have an important
safety advantage because it would eliminate the need to
inject any potentially dangerous particles of the natural
virus into human beings.  As previously reported, scientists
at Duke University and the National Institutes of Health are
working on a vaccine made from particles called "immune
stimulating complex."
   Separately, scientists at the conference said they
discovered that AIDS may have another target cell in the
body.  The T-cell already is known to be a main target of
attack by the AIDS virus.
   Robert C. Gallo and Mikulas Popovic of the National Cancer
Institute said they believe AIDS also infects cells called
monocyte/macrophages that reside in the brain and lung.  Dr. 
Popovic said that such cells form the long-sought "reservoir"
for the AIDS virus in the brain, enabling it to spread
infection throughout the body.  Worse, unlike T-cells which
die off in the viral attack, "these cells just keep pumping
out more virus," Jerome C. Groopman of the Harvard Medical
School said in an interview.
   Noting that these brain reservoirs may cause psychosis and
other AIDS-linked neurological problems, Dr. Groopman said,
"It's a new dimension to the infection.  All drug studies
aimed at the T-cell should now address these cells as well."
   Some scientists fear that monocyte/macrophage cells could
complicate the quest for drug therapy for AIDS. But Dr. Gallo
countered, "I don't see any apriori reason these cells would
be more resistant to drugs."

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