[An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay determining anti-principal neutralizing determinant antibodies using synthetic...

The V3 domain, one of the hypervariable regions of gp 120 in HIV-1 possesses principal type-specific neutralizing determinant (PND). The V3 domain has the epitopes for class I major histocompatibility antigens of cytotoxic-T lymphocyte and helper-T-lymphocyte recognition sites, and also has major determinants for cell tropism towards macrophage, microglia, and human brain-derived fibroblast. Therefore, establishment for the assay of anti-PND antibodies in patients with HIV-1 infection appears to be important for the estimation on developing AIDS in these patients. We here describe a simple enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the measurement of anti-PND antibodies found in Japanese hemophiliacs. ELISA was performed using synthetic peptides, each 15 amino acid residues deduced from cDNA sequences of seven HIV-1 V3 domain mutants, which include 5 North-American and European strains (IIIB, MN, RF, SC, and WMJ-2) and 2 African strains (Af1. Con and Af2, Con). The specific antibody binding to each peptide was determined after subtraction of the non-specific binding from the total. In 49 control sera from healthy individuals with HIV-1 antibody negative, the absorbance (M +/- 1SD) at 405 nm was -0.002 +/- 0.064. Then, the cut off value was determined to be M + 4SD. In 48 hemophiliac sera with HIV-1 antibody negative, the absorbance was uniformly less than the cut off value. However, among 44 hemophiliac sera with HIV-1 antibody positive, the anti-PND antibodies were detected in the following frequencies; 2 for IIIB, 20 for MN, 1 for RF, 1 for Af1. Con, and 5 for Af2. Con.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)