EVALUATION OF HN-2 ANTIBODY INFECTION IN JAPANESE HEMOPHILIACS USING A SYNTHETIC PEPTIDE IMMUNOASSAY AND POLYMERASE CHAIN REATION

EVALUATION OF HN-2 ANTIBODY INFECTION IN JAPANESE HEMOPHILIACS USING A SYNTHETIC PEPTIDE IMMUNOASSAY AND POLYMERASE CHAIN REATION Hiromu Fukui, Sachiyo Nishida and Yoshihiro Fujimura Department of Blood Transfusion, Nara Medical College Mikio Kaneda, Hiroko Shima and Akira Yoshioka Department of Pediatrics, Nara Medical College Namiko Yoshihara and Kazue Nakanaga National Institute of Health The antibodies against HIV-2, the alternative etiologic agent for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), were evaluated on a total of 121 Japanese hemophiliacs (106 hemophilia A, and 15 hemophilia B), using a combination of enzyme-immunoassay (ELAVIA-2), western blotting (LABBLOT 2), and peptide immunoassay (PEPTILABI-2) provided from Pasteur-Sanofi, France. The twenty eight patients of hemophilia A (26%) and the three of hemophilia B (20%) showed positive results by ELAVIA-2. PEPTILAB 1-2 test specified that only one patient (case X) with hemophilia A has a double reaction to HIV-1 and HIV-2 specific peptides. LABBLOT 2 also demonstrated the immunoreactivity of case X to HIV-2 proteins; p26, gp36, gp105, and gp140. Case X was further examined using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method to detect proviral DNA sequences of HIV-1 and HIV-2, and finally the possibility of HIV-2 infection was ruled out confirming true HIV-1 infection.