Selection of asymptomatic HIV carriers for antiviral therapy.

In order to find suitable markers for selection and monitoring of antiviral therapy in asymptomatic HIV-infected patients, we evaluated 18 anti-HIV positive individuals at three monthly intervals by HIV culture, HIV antigen, and core (p24) antibody testing as well as by measurement of lymphocyte subsets. Consistent results were obtained with HIV antigen, p24 antibody testing and T4 cell enumeration, whereas results of virus detection were variable. Therefore cumbersome and expensive virus culture is not of use in selecting patients for antiviral therapy.

Comparison of six serological assays for human immunodeficiency virus antibody detection in developing countries.

Three commercially available assays for the detection of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibodies-Vironostika enzyme immunoassay (EIA), Wellcozyme competitive EIA, and JLC Allaman indirect immunofluorescence assay--were tested on 300 serum samples from African subjects with and without HIV-related conditions. Two experimental assays both rapid and simple to perform (Biotech dip stick and Cambridge Bioscience latex agglutination) were also evaluated on the same serum samples. The results were compared with those of a commercial Western blot (WB) (immunoblot) assay from Biotech, used as the reference technique.

Detection of HIV p17 antigen in lymphocytes but not epithelial cells from cervicovaginal secretions of women seropositive for HIV: implications for heterosexual transmission of the virus.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been isolated from cervicovaginal secretions from infected women and is thought to be cell associated. To identify which cells harbour viral antigen, we used monoclonal antibodies to OKT4 and a monoclonal antibody directed against HIV p17 core antigen to perform indirect immunofluorescence assays of genital secretions from 17 HIV seropositive and 17 HIV seronegative women with leucorrhoea. OKT4 positive lymphocytes were detected in all tested samples.

The latex condom, an efficient barrier against sexual transmission of AIDS-related viruses.

Using a mechanical model, we studied human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) leakage through six different trademark condoms. The presence of the recovered virus was determined after passage to MT-2 cells and to cultured mitogen-stimulated normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PMC). Only the natural membrane condom showed virus leakage after inside pressure.

Isolation of the human T-cell leukemia/lymphotropic virus type III from aqueous humor in two patients with perivasculitis of the retinal vessels.

The human T-cell leukemia/lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV-III) has been isolated from aqueous humor in two patients with perivasculitis of the peripheral retinal vessels, an AIDS-related ocular manifestation. Both patients had antibodies to HTLV-III and although they presented with herpes zoster ophthalmicus, they did not present other symptoms known to be associated with HTLV-III infection. The isolation of HTLV-III from aqueous humor in these two patients with retinal perivasculitis suggests that the virus itself may play a role in the etiology of this ocular sign.

Glycosylation inhibitors block the expression of LAV/HTLV-III (HIV) glycoproteins.

The glycosylation inhibitors 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-dGlc) and, to a lesser extent, beta-hydroxynorvaline blocked the formation of syncytia in HIV (LAV/HTLV-III)-infected cells. Using monospecific polyclonal antibodies against recombinant envelope proteins gp110 and gp41 or monoclonal antibodies against env gp110, we could demonstrate a marked reduction in the immunoreactivity of these antigens in HIV-infected cells exposed to the glycosylation inhibitors. There was concomitant accumulation of core proteins p15 and p24, as shown by a solid phase radio-immunoassay, and a decreased oligosaccharide synthesis of env proteins, as monitored by the incorporation of [6-3H]GlcNAc.

Bovine leukemia virus-related antigens in lymphocyte cultures infected with AIDS-associated viruses.

An earlier finding that lymphocytes from African patients with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) react with rabbit antiserum to purified antigens of bovine leukemia virus (BLV) prompted a study of the possible cross-reactions between a BLV-infected ovine cell line and human lymphocytes inoculated with a strain of lymphadenopathy syndrome-associated virus (LAV). A solid-phase radioimmunoassay was used to detect antigenic markers of the retroviruses. Crude extracts from short-term cultures of lymphocytes infected with LAV bound rabbit antisera to the LAV glycoprotein gp13 (molecular weight 13,000) and the BLV proteins p24 and gp51, but did not bind antibodies to the p24 of human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I).

Cell receptors for baboon endogenous virus recognized by monoclonal antibodies.

Hybridomas from mice immunized with baboon endogenous virus (BaEV) from A204(M7) cells produced several antiviral monoclonal antibodies and, in addition, antibodies D-12 and E-4, which appeared to be virus specific because they reacted with BaEV but not with Mason-Pfizer virus or RD-114 virus. However, they also bound to human virus-free cells, and they did not recognize BaEV from bat or canine host cells. Cell membrane targets for these antibodies comigrated with an 18,000-dalton protein, which may contain specific determinants of BaEV receptors since antibody masking of these cell sites prevented BaEV but not Mason-Pfizer virus or RD-114 virus adsorption.

Monoclonal antibodies against baboon endogenous virus and against host cell antigens.

Monoclonal antibodies were produced by murine hybridomas after immunization with semipurified baboon endogenous virus. In a solid-phase radioimmunoassay, two antibodies (F12-9 and B9-18) reacted with viral antigen only. The antibodies A6-8 and C9-12 also reacted with virus-producing cells but not with control cells, whereas antibodies E4-6 and D12-2 bound to virus-free cells as well.

Expression of retrovirus-related antigen in pregnancy. I. Antigens cross-reacting with simian retroviruses in human foetal tissues and cord blood lymphocytes.

Antisera to Mason-Pfizer or Baboon Endogenous Virus possessed complement-dependent cytotoxicity for cell lines chronically infected with these viruses, with some degree of cross-reaction. When appropriately absorbed with virus-free cells, the antisera were not cytotoxic for lymphocytes of adult males but lysed lymphocytes of neonates in about half of the 30 cord blood samples tested and were also cytotoxic for one third of 26 trophoblast suspensions prepared from healthy placentae. Detection of retrovirus-related antigens was no more frequent in trophoblast from 9 pre-eclamptic placentae.

Expression of retrovirus-related antigen in pregnancy. II. Cytotoxic and blocking specificities of immunoglobulins eluted from the placenta.

Immunoglobulins, mostly of the IgG class, were detected in eluates of the placenta of 75% of 50 healthy women in their first or second pregnancy, 92% of 30 women with more than two pregnancies, and 87% of 23 pre-eclamptic patients. The immunoglobulins were assayed for complement-dependent cytotoxicity on human and monkey cell-lines, as well as on the same cells chronically infected with either Mason-Pfizer Virus (M-P V) or Baboon Endogenous Virus (BeV). The frequency of cytotoxic reactions was very low, except with immunoglobulins from the pre-eclamptic placentae, where one third of the samples lysed virus-infected cells with occasional killing of virus-free cells.

Mason-Pfizer like virus in kidney grafted patients.

Lymphocytes from a kidney grafted patient were specifically stimulated to incorporated thymidine in vitro by mitomycin C treated Hela cells infected with a Mason-Pfizer like virus (MPV). The thermolabile mutant of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV tl) grown in leukocytes of this patient produced pseudotypes which were neutralized by the patient's sera and boy rabbit anti-MPV sera. Coculture of the patients leukocytes with SIRC cells yielded virus populations with dual properties; those of MPV plus those of another virus which was not typed serologically but possessed the biological properties of typical C particles.

Neutralization of Mason-Pfizer virus by sera from patients treated for renal disease.

Sera from 67 patients treated for renal diseases were assayed by as many as three different tests for activities against Mason-Pfizer virus (M-P V) antigens. Firstly, in patients studied before kidney transplantation, neutralizing activity against syncytium-forming units of M-P V was found in 50% of 24 cases of chronic glomerulonephritis but in only 10% of 20 cases with other diseases (P less than 0.01).

Cell-mediated immune response to simian oncornavirus antigens in pregnant women.

Tritiated thymidine incorporation into lymphocytes of 118 adult women was studied in the presence of mitomycin C-treated cells prepared from cell lines continuously producing Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (MPMV), baboon C-particle virus, or simian sarcoma virus (SSV) and in the presence of control cell lines documented for the absence of oncornaviruses. At the end of pregnancy, women who had 5-9 pregnancies showed a high frequency (53%) of specific positive responses to cells with MPMV antigens. The frequencies were 15% for pregnant women with smaller numbers of pregnancies and 3% for nonpregnant women with similar numbers of previous pregnancies as in the pregnancy group.

Specific non-immunoglobulin G antibodies and cell-mediated response to herpes simplex virus antigens in women with cervical carcinoma.

Non-immunoglobulin G-neutralizing antibodies to herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 2 were assayed in sera adsorbed with Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I. They were present in 8% of women with normal cervical smear and in 20, 41, and 74% of women with atypia, dysplasia, and cervical carcinoma, respectively. Lymphocytes of the patients were tested for in vitro transformation by killed HSV type 1 and HSV type 2 (HSV-2), as well as by mitomycin C-treated hamster cells transformed by HSV or other viruses or not transformed.

Comparison of the immunogenicity of hamster cells transformed by adenovirus and Herpes simplex virus.

Hamsters vaccinated with adenovirus-transformed cells, modified by acetoacetylation or concanavalin A treatment, or with small numbers of living cells were partly or completely protected against challenge with 3 times 10-6 living cells. Treatment of vaccine cells with iodoacetate, Mitomycin C, neuraminidase plus Mitomycin C did not produce efficient vaccines. Herpes simplex virus-transformed cells treated by any of these procedures did not prevent, and frequently even enhanced, the growth of the homologous living cells; enhancement was often greater in female than in male hamsters.