INCREASED DETECTION OF HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS ANTIGENEMIA AFTERDISSOCIATION OF IMMUNE-COMPLEXES AT LOW PH

This study compared the number of patients with detectable human immun odeficiency virus (HIV) antigenemia after immune complex (IC) dissocia tion by established methods using either 0.5 N HCl or 1.5 M glycine bu ffer. Without IC dissociation, HIV antigen was detected in 43% of pati ents. After dissociation, the HCl method detected only an additional 7 % of patients (P = 0.09), while the glycine method detected an additio nal 34% (P < 0.001). However, care must be taken in setting the thresh old of the standards, and confirmatory neutralization assays should be performed to ensure specificity of HIV antigen enzyme immunoassay aft er IC dissociation.