Discrimination between antibodies to HIV and to related retroviruses using site-directed serology

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) strains can be separated into two types: HIV and HIV-related West African viruses. Site-directed serology using synthetic peptides offers possibilities for the determination of type-specific antibodies. A 22-amino-acid peptide with the sequence Ala-Ile-Glu-Lys-Tyr-Leu-Glu-Asp-Gln-Ala-Gln-Leu-Asn-Ala-Trp-Cys-Ala-Phe-Arg-Gln - Val-Cys representing a conserved region of the transmembranous protein of simian T-cell lymphotropic virus-type III (STLV-III; related to West African HIV) was used as antigen in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In parallel, tests were performed with a pair of previously described peptides, including the homologous region of the glycoprotein (gp) 41 of the HIV strain HTLV-IIIB. In tests with three groups of 20 sera it was shown that the different peptide ELISAs allowed a categorical distinction of antibodies to the two types of HIV. Tests using peptide antigens may provide excellent opportunities for large-scale testing for type-specific antibodies against HIV. The tests are simple, sensitive and specific and are readily standardized.

Development and Validation of an Immunoassay for Identification of Recent Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infections and Its Use on Dried Serum Spots

“…The clade D peptide was used because it is the most antigenically divergent due to mutations within the cysteine loop (22). Every infected patient rapidly develops antibodies to this region (4,25,27,30). A low concentration of this mixture should allow the binding of late antibodies that have acquired sufficient avidity and thus quantitative detection.…”

Use of a New Dual-Antigen Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay To Detect and Characterize the Human Antibody Response to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 2 Envelope gp125 and gp36 Glycoproteins

“…The gp36 ectodomain is highly conserved and elicits a type-specific antibody response (13,33). Hence, most licensed diagnostic assays incorporate gp36-derived antigens to detect HIV-2-specific antibodies (1,4,12,28,29,38,42,45,48).…”

Characterization of human antibody-binding sites on the external envelope of human immunodeficiency virus type 2

“…A 22 amino acid (aa) synthetic peptide corresponding to a SIV sequence (aa 581 to 603) having 86% aa identity with the HIV-2 sequence bound 100% (20/20) of human HIV-2-positive sera and only one of 20 HIV-l-positive (Norrby et al, 1987). Using the sera of HIV-2-infected individuals and the antibody-reactive peptide scanning (Pepscan) method (Geysen et al, 1984(Geysen et al, , 1985, we identified nine antibody-binding domains of the transmembrane glycoprotein of HIV-2 (Goudsmit et al, 1989).…”