DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF AN IN-HOUSE HIV-1 (GROUP-M AND GROUP-O), SIVMND AND SIVCPZ ANTIGEN CAPTURE ASSAY

An enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of hum an immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and simian immunodeficiency v irus (SIVcpz/SIVmnd) antigens was designed using immunoreagents from n aturally infected individuals, and compared to the commercially availa ble Vironostika HIV-1 Antigen Microelisa System (Organon Teknika). The in-house assay proved to be specific for HIV-1 isolates belonging to group M (A-H) and group O and for SIVcpz and SIVmnd isolates, but was less sensitive than the Vironostika HIV-1 Antigen Microelisa System, e xcept for SIVmnd. For the strains belonging to HIV-2, SIVmac and SIVag m, the in-house assay could not detect antigen to an appreciable degre e. This study shows that a considerably less expensive but sufficientl y accurate HIV-1 antigen capture assay can be developed to monitor HIV -1 (group M and O), SIVcpz and SIVmnd, antigen in the supernatants of virus cultures. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.