       Document 0734
 DOCN  M9640734
 TI    Characteristics and clinical significance of a stabilization assay to
       detect specific antibodies to reverse transcriptase of human
       immunodeficiency virus.
 DT    9604
 AU    Morita M; Suzuki T; Nakajima K; Shiozawa C; Gill MJ; Hoshino H; Division
       of Biomedical Research, Kitasato Institute Hospital,; Tokyo, Japan.
 SO    Clin Diagn Lab Immunol. 1995 Sep;2(5):583-9. Unique Identifier :
       AIDSLINE MED/96089396
 AB    Antibodies against reverse transcriptase (RT) of human immunodeficiency
       virus type 1 (HIV-1) have been detected in seropositive subjects by
       immunoprecipitation, Western immunoblotting, and neutralization assay.
       Recently, we noticed that the antibodies against RT stabilized RT upon
       heat inactivation, and we have developed a stabilization assay of RT
       antibody. Briefly, the RT of HIV-1 is completely inactivated by
       incubation at 56 degrees C for 20 min, but this inactivation is
       inhibited in the presence of a specific antibody directed against this
       molecule. We examined the specificity and clinical significance of this
       stabilization assay. HIV-1 antibody-positive sera stabilized HIV-1 RT
       but not HIV-2 RT, whereas half of these sera cross-neutralized HIV-2 RT.
       Antibody titers against RT determined by the neutralization assay and
       the stabilization assay were compared with clinical characteristics.
       Antibodies against HIV-1 RT were much more frequently detected by the
       stabilization assay than by the neutralization assay. Statistically
       significant associations were found between stabilizing antibody titer
       and CD4+ cell number in peripheral blood of patients and also between
       antibody titer and CD4+/CD8+ ratios. These results indicate that our new
       stabilization assay to detect specific antibodies against RT of HIV-1 is
       useful as a clinical marker of infection and progress of the disease.
 DE    Adult  *Antibody Specificity  AIDS Serodiagnosis/*METHODS  Blotting,
       Western  Enzyme Activation  Enzyme Stability  Female  Heat  Human  HIV
       Antibodies/*BLOOD/CLASSIFICATION  HIV-1/*IMMUNOLOGY  Male
       Neutralization Tests  RNA-Directed DNA
       Polymerase/BLOOD/*CHEMISTRY/*IMMUNOLOGY  Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
       JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).

