[Use of immunomorphologic methods in detecting antigens of the human immunodeficiency virus]

A comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of detection of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in persistently infected culture of T-lymphocytes by means of different morphological and immunomorphological methods: fluorescent antibody method (FAM), immune electron microscopy (IEM), negative staining, and ultrathin section technique, was carried out. The FAM was shown to detect virus antigen exclusively in the cytoplasm of large and multinuclear cells but not in the cytoplasm of small size cells. A marked cyclic pattern (3-passage interval) was established in expression of HIV antigen correlating with changes in the ratio of 3 types of cells in the culture and the intensity of HIV virions production detectable in electron microscopic preparations. The phenomenon of variability of HIV production associated with changes in the ratio of different cell types was used for selection of most productive cultures which were employed as the antigen for antibody determination in sera. The study showed good agreement in antibody detection by the FAM and immunoblotting method.