The long-term objective of this clinical research is to further develop a novel ELISA for the detection of antibodies to HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins. The utilization of native envelope HIV-1 glycoproteins offers the possibility of detecting antibodies in patient sera to a broader range of antigenic determinants including conformational epitopes. The enhanced sensitivity of this novel ELISA will be evaluated for potential prognostic clinical utility in the early and more effective treatment of the HIV-1 infection. A novel method that greatly simplifies the preparation of solid-phase HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins for use in this ELISA has been developed. This method utilizes concanavalin A absorbed to wells of microtiter plates to affinity immobilize detergent solubilized viral glycoproteins released in culture fluids of HIV-1 infected cell lines grown in serum free medium. Since concanavalin A has a general specificity for a variety of glycoproteins containing mannosyl residues, it should be possible to develop ELISAs that detect glycoprotein-specific antibodies to a diversity of enveloped viruses including other human and animal retroviruses.
