An alternative method for in vitro production of HIV-1-specific antibodies

We describe the detection of HIV-1-specific antibody secretion by a 24-h culture of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated with disrupted inactivated whole virus adsorbed onto commercial ELISA microwell plates. The method showed high sensitivity and specificity and was capable of accurately detecting HIV-1 infection early after birth (9 of the 19 patients were less than 3 years old) because maternal antibodies do not interfere by giving false-positive results. No false-positive results were obtained with PBMC from 24 HIV-1-seronegative asymptomatic individuals and no false-negative results were obtained for 10 seropositive adult patients (16-46 years of age). This rapid, relatively low cost, simple, highly sensitive and specific assay can be extremely useful for the early diagnosis of pediatric AIDS cases.