title: Antibodies to p24 antigen do not specifically detect HIV-infected lymphocytes in AIDS patients.
abstract: A flow cytometric assay (FCA), which detects the p24 antigen in HIV-infected cell lines and in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of AIDS patients, has been described in several studies. However, the results presented here clearly show that this p24-FCA, although useful for the analysis of HIV infection of cells in vitro, does not specifically detect HIV-infected PBMC from patients. Isotype control antibodies also stained PBMC from HIV-infected patients to a greater degree than the PBMC from healthy controls. Furthermore, the CD4-negative lymphocytes, which are generally not infected with HIV, were also found to stain with anti-p24. Finally, no enrichment of HIV-infected cells was found in the FACS-purified CD4+p24+ lymphocytes, compared to the CD4+p24- cell fraction. The p24-FCA, therefore, was not useful for determining the percentage of infected PBMCs from HIV-infected individuals.
authors.affiliation: Abteilung Virologie, Universität Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kux
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bertram
authors.forename: F T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Hufert
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: von Laer
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000737:chemistry; D000918:Antibody Specificity / Q000187:drug effects; D001483:Base Sequence; D001667:Binding, Competitive / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology*; D002460:Cell Line; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000737:chemistry*; D016655:HIV Core Protein p24 / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D013194:Staining and Labeling
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D016655:HIV Core Protein p24