Serological cross-reactivities between the retroviruses HIV and HTLV-1 and the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.
Serum samples from three populations of Papua New Guinea, where Plasmodium falciparum malaria and human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) are coendemic at high prevalence rates, showed statistically significant ELISA co-seropositivity and co-seronegativity. Cross-reactivity was further indicated by the presence of 10 bands ranging from 134 kDa to 18 kDa on immunoblots of electrophoresed whole lysate P. falciparum antigen against serum of HTLV-1 seropositive patients from an area where malaria is not present. Similarly, sera from patients positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from a non-malarious region produced immunoblot bands ranging from 134 kDa to 33 kDa to the P. falciparum antigen. The HTLV-1 and HIV serum samples yielded a number of immunoblot bands when reacted to an electrophoresed human O type red cell membrane antigen, but those bands had no identity to the cross-reactive bands on the P. falciparum antigen immunoblots. Malaria-positive sera from Papua New Guinean subjects presumed to be uninfected with HIV produced a variety of bands, some of intense prominence, to HIV antigen on diagnostic Western blots.
Elm
J
J
Department of Tropical Medicine and Medical Microbiology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu 96816, USA.
Desowitz
R
R
Diwan
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000276:immunology; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003429:Cross Reactions; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006678:HIV / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D015488:HIV Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000276:immunology; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D010219:Papua New Guinea / Q000453:epidemiology; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000276:immunology*; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D015488:HIV Antigens; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies