Bacterial Expression of the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Retrovirus p24 Gag Protein and Its Use as a Diagnostic Reagent

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 1985-11, Vol.82 (22), p.7748-7752
• Main Authors: Dowbenko, Donald J., Bell, John R., Benton, Charles V., Groopman, Jerome E., Nguyen, Hung, Vetterlein, David, Capon, Daniel J., Lasky, Laurence A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - diagnosis; AIDS; AIDS related complex; AIDS/HIV; Amino Acid Sequence; Amino acids; Antibodies; Antibodies, Viral - analysis; Antigens; Bacteria; Bacteria - metabolism; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Products, gag; Genetic engineering; Genetic technics; Health. Pharmaceutical industry; Humans; Indicators and Reagents; Industrial applications and implications. Economical aspects; Methods. Procedures. Technologies; Other active biomolecules; Plasmids; Production of active biomolecules; Retroviridae; Retroviridae Proteins - analysis; Retroviridae Proteins - biosynthesis; Retroviridae Proteins - immunology; Viruses
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.82.22.7748

A retrovirus [lymphoadenopathy-associated virus, human T-cell leukemia virus type III, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related virus] suspected of causing AIDS has been isolated recently. The detection of exposure to this retrovirus in donors of various blood products is important to prevent transmission of the disease from these donors to recipients. In the majority of cases, the detection of antibodies directed against either the viral core protein, a Mr≈ 24,000 protein termed p24 gag, or the viral envelope antigen is proof of previous viral infection. Thus, we have expressed the p24 gag antigen in Escherichia coli in order to produce a diagnostic reagent for the detection of virus exposure. The bacterially synthesized antigen reacts with human and rabbit antisera directed against the native p24 gag protein in both electrophoretic transfer blot assay and ELISA. In addition, the use of bacterially produced antigens for ELISAs gave results that were comparable to those obtained by using antigens isolated from the virus.