Antigen detection for human immunodeficiency virus

Abstract

The recent development of enzyme immunoassay procedures for the direct determination of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antigens has been of significant benefit in both clinical and research applications. The historical development of HIV antigen assays as well as their current and future applications for use in the clinical microbiology laboratory are reviewed. A detailed description of selected commercially available assays is presented, and a comparison is made of various parameters, including sensitivity, specificity, and cost. The use of the HIV antigen assay as an alternative to the reverse transcriptase assay in virus culture applications is also discussed. In addition, the diagnostic and prognostic utility of the HIV antigen assay is considered for various patient groups, including neonatal, high-risk asymptomatic, seronegative, and seropositive patient populations. The use of the HIV antigen assay as an adjunct to anti-HIV antibody testing, as well as its utility in assessing the therapeutic efficacy of antiviral drug therapy, is discussed. The biology of HIV antigen expression and modulation of anti-HIV antibody titers during infection are also discussed in terms of two possible models.

A second generation of RT-PCR assay for detection of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection

“…Acquired immunodefi ciency syndrome (AIDS) is caused by the human immunodefi ciency virus type 1 (HIV-1) that poses the most important concern to the public health worldwide. [1][2][3][4] Laboratory diagnosis for HIV-1 infection by the detection of HIV-1 specifi c antibody is not possible when the infected individuals fail to produce HIV-1 specifi c antibodies, 5 the case is infected by the most divergent HIV-1 strains, 6 or at early phase of infection where HIV-1 specifi c antibody is not produced yet. 7 In addition, seronegativity or immunological dysfunction due to aggressive disease course occurs.…”

Detection of Receptor-Induced Glycoprotein Conformational Changes on Enveloped Virions by Using Confocal Micro-Raman Spectroscopy

“…Furthermore, current available techniques for identification of viruses include transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (15), PCR (16), cell culture (17), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) (18). However, these techniques require complicated and/or time-consuming methods for sample preparation and relatively large numbers of virions for identification.…”