IMMUNOREACTIVITY OF SYNTHETIC PEPTIDES CORRESPONDING TO B-CELL EPITOPES OF TYPE-I HUMAN T-LYMPHOTROPIC VIRUS STRUCTURAL PROTEINS

The immunoreactivity of 25 synthetic peptides corresponding to fragmen ts of the HTLV-I structural proteins p19 gag, gp46 and gp21 env was ev aluated by ELISA with a panel of 70 reference HTLV-I-positive sera. A number of peptides were specifically recognized by anti-HTLV-I antibod ies and served to locate the virus B-cell epitopes. The role of partic ular amino acids in forming the antigenic determinants was assessed. S ynthetic peptides 100-139 of p19 gag and 176-201 gp46 env were found t o be the most immunoreactive (90-99% recognition by sera of HTLV-I-inf ected patients) and to mimic the immunodominant B-cell epitopes of the HTLV-I structural proteins.