ESTABLISHMENT OF MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODY, GP21-34, AGAINST HTLV-II ENVELOPE PROTEIN (P20E)

A monoclonal antibody (MAb), gp21-34, specifically reactive with human T-lymphotropic virus type-II (HTLV-II) transmembranous envelope glyco protein (p20E) was developed by immunization with a recombinant protei n fused with thioredoxin moiety at the N-terminal portion. This MAb, w hich belongs to the IgG(1) kappa subclass, reacted with HTLV-II infect ed cell lines (TON-1, C3-44, and Si-IIA) by IFA, but not with HTLV-I i nfected cell lines (TCL-Kan and MT-2), By Western blot analysis, this MAb reacted with p20E of HTLV-II lysates but not with HTLV-I lysates, Some epitope analyses with synthetic peptides were carried out to look for a plausible linear epitope in the C-terminal region of p20E.