A new ELISA test for HIV antibodies using a bacterially produced viralenvgene product

✍ Scribed by J. Schneider; I. Wendler; F. Guillot; G. Hunsmann; H. Gallati; H.-J. Schoenfeld; D. Stüber; J. Mous

• Book ID: 104656696
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1987
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 267 KB
• Volume: 176
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0300-8584
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00189408

✦ Synopsis

Screening tests for antibodies to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), based on the indirect ELISA principle using viral preparations as antigen, yield a substantial number of false-positive and false-negative results. These failures are due to the lack of certain viral polypeptites or contaminating cellular polypeptides in viral preparations. Therefore, the accuracy of the screening tests should be improved by using highly purified, synthetic viral antigens. With establishment of such an ELISA antigen in mind, we examined a bacterially synthesized polypeptide [ENV(80)] that corresponds to 80 conserved amino acids of the HIV gp41 transmembrane glycoprotein. ENV(80) was expressed as a DHFR fusion protein in Escbericbia coll. Results obtained by HIV ELISA and immunoprecipitation with 497 serum samples from various groups at risk of AIDS were compared with those obtained with the ENV(80) ELISA. The ENV(80) ELISA was found to be superior to the Hg/HTLV-III ELISA with respect to sensitivity and specificity and is almost equivalent in accuracy to immunoprecipitation.