18 August 1982
Dear Harold,
Thank you for sending me a copy of your letter to Natalie dated July 20th. I am also glad that Brad Ozanne will expand on tumour growth factors, though we will have to push him to obtain the copy in time. Chapter 11 will need quite some revision and I am planning to ask Chris Marshall to help me update the review of human transforming genes. The appendices will indeed be the biggest job. I think they are already immensely useful and well worth the effort of bringing them as up to date as possible.
Concerning Kumao Toyoshima's proposal about the naming of human C-type retroviruses, I am inclined to leave the present virus as HTLV. I think it is quite clear that, while the Japanese recognized the disease entity first, Gallo's laboratory isolated and named the virus. Unless Gallo agreed to change to ATLV, I think we should leave things as they stand. Even Miyoshi (though not Hinuma) now accepts HTLV. If other human C-type viruses are isolated, we might consider HLV as a general term. Strictly speaking, I suppose REV ought to be a sub-category of ALV, but I am not proposing that we change the nomenclature of avian viruses!
I have not seen any reviews of the book yet but I hope it is being well received by the scientific community.
With best regards,
Sincerely yours,
p.p. R. A. Weiss
(Dictated by Dr. Weiss but signed in his absence)