title: Antibodies to HIV-1 in sera from patients with mycobacterial infections.
abstract: Sera from 478 persons (348 leprosy patients, 33 tuberculosis patients, 29 healthy contacts of leprosy patients, 38 normal healthy Indians, and 30 normal healthy Europeans) were screened for anti-HIV-1 IgG antibodies by ELISA. None was positive. In addition, 132 samples (from 43 leprosy patients, 21 tuberculosis patients, 5 healthy contacts of leprosy patients, 33 normal healthy Indians, and 30 normal healthy Europeans) were also tested by Western blot assay for anti-HIV-1 IgG antibodies. Only 1 of the 63 healthy subjects expressed a prominent p17 band. One or more bands were found in 44 (leprosy patients 33/43, tuberculosis patients 7/21, and leprosy contacts 4/5) of the remaining 69 sera. Antibody to the HIV-1-specific antigen p24 was expressed by 17 of these subjects (14/43 leprosy patients, 1/21 tuberculosis patients, and 2/5 leprosy contacts), either as a single band or in combination with other bands. This raises the possibility of a common antigenic pattern between HIV-1 and mycobacteria, especially Mycobacterium leprae.
authors.affiliation: Central JALMA Institute for Leprosy (ICMR), Taj Ganj, Agra, India.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: ShivRaj
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Patil
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Girdhar
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Sengupta
authors.forename: K V
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Desikan
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Srinivasan
mesh_terms: D015153:Blotting, Western; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D015488:HIV Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D016655:HIV Core Protein p24; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007918:Leprosy / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D012191:Retroviridae Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D015483:HIV Antibodies; D015488:HIV Antigens; D016655:HIV Core Protein p24; D012191:Retroviridae Proteins