title: Delineation of an immunodominant and human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV)-specific epitope within the HTLV-I transmembrane glycoprotein.
abstract: Antibody reactivity to the transmembrane region of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) envelope, gp21, is observed in virtually all individuals infected with HTLV-I or HTLV-II. Recombinant proteins encoding selected portions of gp21 are described and used to define two immunogenic regions. The first epitope (designated GD21-I) contains amino acids 361 to 404 of the HTLV-I envelope and reacted with all of 54 sera from HTLV-I- and HTLV-II-infected individuals. The second epitope (designated BA21) expresses amino acids 397 to 430 of the HTLV-I envelope and was recognized by 33 of 54 HTLV antisera. To determine the specificity of GD21-I and BA21, sera from 17 HTLV-negative individuals with nonspecific reactivity to p21E were tested. None of these sera reacted with GD21-I, but 16 of 17 sera reacted with BA21. With virtually complete reactivity to sera from HTLV-infected individuals and no reactivity to sera from p21E-reactive uninfected individuals, GD21-I will be useful in immunoassays for the detection of HTLV infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Virology, Genelabs Technologies, Inc. Redwood City, CA 94063, USA.
authors.forename: K G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Hadlock
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Goh
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Bradshaw
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Perkins
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lo
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khabbaz
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Foung
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000737:chemistry*; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D018604:Epitope Mapping; D015686:Gene Products, env / Q000276:immunology*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D015682:Retroviridae Proteins, Oncogenic / Q000276:immunology*; D012995:Solubility; D054299:env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; D017931:DNA Primers; D015686:Gene Products, env; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D015682:Retroviridae Proteins, Oncogenic; D054299:env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; C055265:gp21 protein, Human T-lymphotropic virus 1