title: Immunocytochemical determination of antigen and epitope specificity of HIV-1-specific B cells in lymph-node biopsies from HIV-1-infected individuals.
abstract: Knowledge about B-cell dysfunction and HIV-specific antibody production is necessary for the understanding of both HIV-1-related immunopathology and the (vaccine-induced) humoral immunity involved in protection against AIDS. This paper describes the application of recently developed methods to detect epitope specificity of B cells in lymph-node biopsies with antigen-enzyme conjugates. Cryosections of five lymph-node biopsies from HIV-1-infected individuals and four control tissues were stained with a panel of HIV-1 antigen-enzyme conjugates: recombinant HIV-1 proteins (gp 160, gp 120 and p24), labelled with peroxidase, and synthetic peptides representing neutralizing epitopes from gp120 and gp41, labelled with alkaline phosphatase. Antibody-forming cells (AFCs) were detected in all the HIV-1-infected biopsies with gp160, gp120 and/or p24, in numbers up to 350 per section. AFCs producing specific antibodies against peptide 101 (SP 101), representing the neutralizing epitope 586-608 of gp41, were detected in one patient. These techniques allow correlation of in vivo function of B cells with lymph-node pathology, clinical stage of the disease and serological data. Their potential for the elucidation of HIV-related immunopathogenesis and the development of vaccines is discussed.
authors.affiliation: TNO Medical Biological Laboratory, Rijswijk, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Laman
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rácz
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tenner-Rácz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klasmeier
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Fasbender
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Neelen
authors.forename: N D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Zegers
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dietrich
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Boersma
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Claassen
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D001706:Biopsy; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology*; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology; D015488:HIV Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000276:immunology; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D012191:Retroviridae Proteins / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D015488:HIV Antigens; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012191:Retroviridae Proteins; D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase