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Spectrum of natural antibodies against five HTLV-III antigens in infected
individuals: correlation of antibody prevalence with clinical status
G Franchini, M Robert-Guroff, A Aldovini, NC Kan and F Wong-Staal
The genome of the HTLV-III/LAV retrovirus, the etiologic agent of the
acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), encodes the viral structural
proteins (envelope and core proteins), the reverse transcriptase, a
transactivation protein (tat-III), as well as two other proteins (3'orf,
sor) of unknown function. We studied the prevalence of natural antibodies
against envelope, gag, 3'orf, sor, and tat-III in the sera of HTLV-III
infected individuals in an attempt to correlate clinical status with
seropositivity to specific HTLV-III antigens. We selected 101 sera; 16 were
obtained from normal donors with no known risk factors, and 85 were from
patients with full-fledged AIDS (28 cases), AIDS-related complex (ARC, 22
cases), and healthy people at risk (homosexuals, intravenous [IV] drug
users, relatives of AIDS patients; 35 cases). Seropositivity for antibodies
against the envelope (gp41) and gag antigens (p15, p24) was determined by
Western blot using disrupted HTLV-III virions. Of the 101 sera, all 16 from
nonrisk donors and 3/35 from healthy at-risk donors were negative for
antibodies against either the gp41 or p15 and p24. The remaining 82 sera
were seropositive for either the gp41 and/or the p15 and p24. All sera were
then tested against the three known HTLV-III antigens (3'orf, sor, and
tat-III) that have been synthesized in bacteria. Our data indicate that all
the HTLV-III antigens tested are immunogenic in vivo. No significant
difference in antibody prevalence to gp41 (close to 100%) and to the 3'orf,
sor, and tat-III proteins (approximately 50%) was observed with regard to
stage of the disease. In contrast, the prevalence of antibodies against the
core antigens decreased from approximately 100% in infected people with no
clinical signs of disease to 50% in ARC and AIDS patients. The percentage
of patients seropositive for all five antigens tested was increased in the
AIDS group. These results indicate that the greatest antibody prevalence
was obtained using viral envelope antigen and further suggest that
screening with the newly identified 3'orf, sor, and tat-III proteins as
antigens would confer no further diagnostic advantage. The pattern of
natural antibodies observed during disease progression did not suggest any
pathogenetic mechanism.
Volume 69,
Issue 2,
pp. 437-441,
02/01/1987
Copyright © 1987 by The American Society of Hematology
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