title: Increased enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay specificity with solubilized simian retrovirus 2-infected cell membranes.
abstract: Simian type-D retrovirus (SRV) infection is a health problem in captive and wild-caught macaques; it interferes with acquired immune deficiency syndrome-related research. Because the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with gradient-purified SRV-2 virus yields a high percentage of false-positive results, the assay was modified with membrane antigens from SRV-2-infected and uninfected A549 cells. The SRV-2 membrane antigen contains the major proteins detected in positive sera by Western blotting: env proteins gp70 and gp20 and gag proteins p27, p14, p12, and p10. The original purified virus ELISA had a specificity of 74% compared with Western immunoblot. The modified ELISA using the difference in optical density between infected and control cell membrane antigens resulted in a specificity of 100% when the same samples were tested.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiology, University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7238, USA.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Thouless
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Welch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002460:Cell Line; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000821:virology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods*; D008252:Macaca fascicularis / Q000821:virology*; D008254:Macaca nemestrina / Q000821:virology*; D016097:Simian Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000821:virology*; D015302:Simian Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral