Evaluation of the human T-cell leukemia virus type I seropositivity of blood donors by the particle agglutination inhibition test.
In the HTLV-I seroscreening of blood donor sera by gelatin particle agglutination (PA), more than 50% (55.6%) of the PA-positive sera were negative by immunofluorescence assay (IF). However, when donors were divided into age groups, there were increasing numbers of IF-positive/PA-positive donors with age. Among the PA-positive donors in the 50-64 age group, 65.9% were IF-positive compared to 16.0% in the 16-19 age group. The serological specificities of the IF-negative/PA-positive specimens were tested by using a newly developed PA inhibition (PAI) test. The HTLV-I specificity of the PAI test was confirmed by the observation that agglutinations with anti-HTLV-I p19 and gp21 monoclonal antibodies as well as IF-positive sera were specifically inhibited with HTLV-I preparations or HTLV-I-positive cell extracts and not with HTLV-I-negative cell extracts. Sixty of the 104 specimens collected randomly from the IF-negative/PA-positive donors were PAI-positive. The majority (80%) of such PAI-positive sera showed more than two bands of HTLV-I gag-encoded polypeptide, p19, p24, p28 and p53 on Western blotting. Some of the PAI-positive sera were also positive by enzyme immunoassay. These results indicate that at least some of the IF-negative/PA-positive donors possess HTLV-I-specific antibody and may be potential HTLV-I carriers who will become IF-positive at a later age.
Kwon
K W
KW
Hokkaido Red Cross Blood Center, Sapporo.
Ikeda
H
H
Yano
M
M
Sekiguchi
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000372:Agglutination Tests; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D001782:Blood Donors; D002353:Carrier State / Q000382:microbiology*; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008875:Middle Aged; D012698:Serologic Tests
D000956:Antigens, Viral