Natural and experimentally induced antibodies to defined mammalian type-C virus proteins in primates

Using sensitive radiommunoprecipitation assays for highly purified type-C RNA tumor virus proteins, we found that 5 of 16 clinically normal gibbons (including 4 of 5 normal animals from a colony with 2 cases of lymphoma) and 4 of 4 experimentally inoculated gibbons formed antibodies to the major structural protein (p30) of gibbon ape leukemia virus (GaLV). An additional woolly monkey immunized with the closely related simian sarcoma virus also formed antibodies detectable with GaLV p30. Of 20 patients immunized with formalin-inactivated Rauscher murine leukemia virus (R-MuLV), 10 were previously reported to have antibodies to MuLV as determined by an internally labeled banded virus radioimmunoprecipitation assay. In comparison studies with purified R-MuLV proteins, 7 of 20 patients formed antibodies: 3/20 to R-MuLV p30 only, 1/20 to R-MuLV glycoprotein (gp) 70 only, and 3/20 to both p30 and gp70. Most responders were melanoma patients receiving immunotherapy with BCG. Additionally, rhesus monkeys produced antibodies to the endogenous cat virus RD114 and closely related endogenous baboon leukemia virus p30's. Thus these studies demonstrated the ability of primates (including humans) to form antibodies to well-characterized proteins from endogenous and exogenous type-C viruses and the potential utility of these assays for seroepidemiologic studies.