FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 312:265-270 January 31, 1985 Number 5 Next

	Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited PubMed Citation

Abstract

We tested serum samples from Swiss subjects by three different assays based on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blot techniques for antibodies to proteins associated with the recently discovered human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus HTLV-III, the putative etiologic agent for the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Of 10 patients with AIDS and 10 with pre-AIDS, all were antibody-positive. Furthermore, 37 of 103 intravenous-drug addicts (36 per cent), 4 of 40 healthy homosexual men (10 per cent), 7 of 83 patients with various types of hepatitis (8.4 per cent), but none of 83 healthy blood donors or 10 other controls were antibody-positive. Antibodies to the major viral protein p24 were found consistently and at high titers in the seropositive members of the groups at risk and in those with pre-AIDS but were dramatically reduced in patients with AIDS. In contrast, antibodies to another virus-associated protein, p41, were present in all cases of AIDS and pre-AIDS but were absent in nearly 10 per cent of seropositive persons at risk. Whereas p41 and p24 thus appear to be the targets of choice for future screening tests, the ELISA test that is currently available is a useful screening tool.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Berger, J. R., Bender, A., Resnick, L., Perlmutter, D. (1986). Spinal Myoclonus Associated With HTLV III/LAV Infection. Arch Neurol 43: 1203-1204 [Abstract]  
• Curran, J., Morgan, W., Hardy, A., Jaffe, H., Darrow, W., Dowdle, W. (1985). The epidemiology of AIDS: current status and future prospects. Science 229: 1352-1357 [Abstract]