title: Evaluation of a line immunoassay for simultaneous confirmation of antibodies to HIV-1 and HIV-2.
abstract: An anti-HIV-1/HIV-2 line immunoassay (LIA), using peptides and recombinant antigens was evaluated against commercially available Western blot tests for HIV-1 and HIV-2 antibodies. Two thousand one hundred and ten sera of European, African, and South American origin were used in the evaluation. The panel included 1066 sera with antibodies to HIV-1, 192 sera with antibodies to HIV-2, and 64 sera with antibodies to both. Using Western blot results interpreted according to the WHO criteria as a reference standard, the overall specificity obtained by this LIA was 100% and the sensitivity was 99.77% (97.51-100% for 95% confidence limits) when sera dually reactive in Western blot were included. Of the three sera negative in the LIA but positive in HIV-1 WB, two could be retested in a radioimmunoprecipitation assay and were negative. When dually reactive sera in the Western blot (WHO) were included, the LIA yielded 9.9% indeterminate results as compared with 15.5% for both assays (chi 2 = 29.30; p less than 0.001). Although only one HIV-2 specific peptide antigen (gp36) was used, the LIA yielded a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity of 100% as compared with the HIV-2 Western blot assay. When indeterminate results were included, the overall agreement between the LIA and the HIV-1 and HIV-2 Western blot (WHO criteria) was 89.9% and 90.1% respectively. These results indicate that the LIA provides reliable simultaneous detection of antibodies to HIV-1 and HIV-2, and at a cost which is substantially lower than the cost of Western blot tests.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerpen, Belgium.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fransen
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Pollet
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peeters
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: van Kerckhoven
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Beelaert
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vercauteren
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Piot
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van der Groen
mesh_terms: D015153:Blotting, Western; D003429:Cross Reactions; D015686:Gene Products, env / Q000276:immunology; D015684:Gene Products, pol / Q000276:immunology; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D015488:HIV Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D016655:HIV Core Protein p24 / Q000276:immunology; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41 / Q000276:immunology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D015498:HIV-2 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D054299:env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
chemical_list: D015686:Gene Products, env; D015684:Gene Products, pol; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D015488:HIV Antigens; D016655:HIV Core Protein p24; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D054299:env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; C059763:env protein gp36, Human immunodeficiency virus