title: p24 antibody production in p24 antibody-negative HIV-infected subjects.
abstract: To determine if HIV-infected patients with no detectable serum antibodies to p24 are producing antibodies to p24 (anti-p24), blood was obtained from 49 HIV-infected patients at various stages of infection. Serum p24 antigen levels were measured and peripheral blood mononuclear cells were cultured for 1 week without mitogenic stimulation. The presence of anti-p24 in culture supernatants and sera was determined by radioimmunoprecipitation assays. Cells from 89% of the patients who had anti-p24 in their sera spontaneously synthesized anti-p24 in vitro. Similarly, cells from 83% of the HIV-infected patients who had no detectable anti-p24 in their sera spontaneously produced anti-p24 in vitro. Thus the absence of anti-p24 in serum did not reflect suppression in the ability of patients' cells to synthesize and secrete antibodies to p24. However, cells from patients whose sera contained anti-p24 spontaneously synthesized more anti-p24 than did cells from patients whose sera lacked anti-p24, suggesting that these two groups of patients may represent individuals with inherently high or low responses to p24 epitopes, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, New York University Medical Center, New York.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Stickler
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sharpe
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zolla-Pazner
mesh_terms: D000386:AIDS-Related Complex / Q000276:immunology; D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000276:immunology*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000097:blood; D016655:HIV Core Protein p24 / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D015531:Radioimmunoprecipitation Assay
chemical_list: D015483:HIV Antibodies; D016655:HIV Core Protein p24