Immunoassay for the detection and quantitation of infectious human retrovirus, lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV)

Detection of replicating human retroviruses has relied upon rather cumbersome reverse transcriptase, immunofluorescence, or electron microscopic assays. We describe a new sandwich enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) for detecting the human retrovirus, lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV), in supernates of LAV-infected human lymphocyte cultures. This LAV capture immunoassay compares favorably with the reverse transcriptase assay, despite the fact that it is performed on 20-fold less supernate material. Because the assay can be performed on 0.1 ml of culture supernate and is done by an ELISA method, LAV inoculation of lymphocyte cultures can be monitored quite conveniently, and endpoint titrations of infectious virus (ID-50 assays) can be performed. We demonstrate the application of the capture assay and ID-50 assay to disinfectant and serum neutralization experiments.