Diagnostic utility of a mouse monoclonal antibody (5-21-3) employed as a competitive probe in an immunoassay to detect antibody to HIV-1 gp41.
A mouse monoclonal antibody, designated 5-21-3, was raised against HIV-1 gp41 using detergent-disrupted virus as the immunogen. Antibody 5-21-3 was conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and employed as a competitive probe against normal and HIV-1 antibody-positive sera in an immunoassay to detect the presence of antibody to HIV-1 gp41. The diagnostic utility of the competitive monoclonal immunoassay was assessed by correlation to a similar assay which employed HRP-labeled polyclonal IgG from a gp41-seropositive donor as the competitive probe. The monoclonal immunoassay was greater than 98% as sensitive and 99% as specific as the polyclonal immunoassay, regardless of the geographic source or disease state of the donor. The monoclonal immunoassay also was nearly as effective as the polyclonal immunoassay in detecting points of seroconversion in individuals enrolled in longitudinal studies. Of particular interest was the finding that the epitope recognized by monoclonal antibody 5-21-3 did not map to the well-characterized gp41 immunodominant region.
Department of Human Retroviruses, Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Illinois 60064.
J C
JC
Hunt
L
L
Falk
J S
JS
Webber
R H
RH
Decker
S G
SG
Devare
G J
GJ
Dawson
D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001667:Binding, Competitive; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D015686:Gene Products, env / Q000276:immunology; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D019302:HIV Envelope Protein gp160; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41 / Q000276:immunology*; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D007118:Immunoassay; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000276:immunology
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000939:Epitopes; D015686:Gene Products, env; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D019302:HIV Envelope Protein gp160; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41; D011498:Protein Precursors