Antifusion activity in sera from persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1

Cell-to-cell fusion plays an important role in the pathogenesis of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infections. An assay to measure the antifusion activity of serum has been developed by using the fusion event that occurs between H9 cells chronically infected with HIV-1 (H9IIIB) and fusion-susceptible MT-2 cells. The endpoint is determined by measuring neutral red uptake in cells after syncytium formation is allowed to occur in the presence of various serum dilutions. The assessment of antifusion activity in serum by neutral red uptake has been shown to correlate with syncytium reduction as determined by direct counting. The optimal number and ratio of cells in the suspension for efficiency and speed of the assay have been determined. With this assay it was shown that 50% of 36 serum specimens capable of neutralizing cell-free virions failed to inhibit syncytium formation. The assay can thus measure a distinct activity in HIV-1-immune human sera which is a subset of neutralization activity. Because of the potential role of this activity in the rate of disease progression and protective immune responses, the antifusion assay will be an important tool for the investigation of disease pathogenesis and for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome vaccine development. The assay can also be applied to the investigation of the pathogenesis of the fusion event at the cellular level. The ability to use absorbance measurements rather than syncytium counts as the endpoint facilitates direct computer-assisted data analysis, which expedites the performance of the assay.