Enhanced Fitness of Non-Pathogenic SHIV-NM-3rN Over Acute Pathogenic 89.6P in a Dual Infection/Compitition Assay on HSC-F Monkey Derived Cell Line

Enhanced Fitness of Non-Pathogenic SHIV-NM-3rN Over Acute Pathogenic 89.6P in a Dual Infection/Compitition Assay on HSC-F Monkey Derived Cell Line

In a study to use a non-pathogenic Simian/Human Immunodeficiency Virus (SHIV) to overcome pathogenic SHIV in a dual infection/competition assay, two SHIVs, pathogenic 89.6P and non-pathogenic NM-3rN, whose replicative fitness were adjusted to be of equal strength, were mixed together and allowed to compete during many transfers in a monkey-derived cell line HSC-F. This is to identify the conditions under which a nonpathogenic SHIV could out-compete a pathogenic SHIV in order to understand the principles underlying evolution of adaptation and selection and to see if the underlying principle could serve as a guide in the design of a therapeutic Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) vaccine.