Chimeric Synthetic Peptides from the Envelope (gp46) and the Transmembrane (gp21) Glycoproteins for the Detection of Antibodies to Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type II

• Published in: Biochemical and biophysical research communications Vol. 289; no. 1; pp. 7 - 12
• Main Authors: Hernandez marin, M, Castellanos penton, P, Marquez bocalandro, Y, Pozo pena, L, Diaz navarro, J, Javier gonzalez lopez, L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 23.11.2001
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; chimeric synthetic peptides; env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Gene Products, env - chemistry; Gene Products, env - genetics; Gene Products, env - immunology; glycoprotein gp21; glycoprotein gp46; gp21; gp46; HTLV-II; HTLV-II Antibodies - blood; HTLV-II Antigens - chemistry; HTLV-II Antigens - genetics; HTLV-II Infections - diagnosis; HTLV-II Infections - immunology; Human T-lymphotropic virus 2; Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 - genetics; Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 - immunology; Humans; Immunodominant Epitopes - chemistry; Immunodominant Epitopes - genetics; Molecular Sequence Data; Peptide Fragments - chemistry; Peptide Fragments - genetics; Peptide Fragments - immunology; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - chemistry; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - genetics; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - immunology; Retroviridae Proteins, Oncogenic - chemistry; Retroviridae Proteins, Oncogenic - genetics; Retroviridae Proteins, Oncogenic - immunology; UMELISA; gp21; HTLV-II; chimeric synthetic peptides; gp46; UMELISA
• ISSN: 0006-291X; 1090-2104
• DOI: 10.1006/bbrc.2001.5917

Two chimeric synthetic peptides incorporating immunodominant sequences from HTLV-II virus were synthesized. Monomeric peptides P2 and P3 represent sequences from transmembrane protein (gp21) and envelope protein (gp46) of the virus. The peptide P2 is a gp21 (370–396) sequence and the peptide P3 is a gp46 (178–205) sequence. Those peptides were arranged in a way that permits one to obtain different combinations of chimeric peptides (P2-GG-P3 and P3-GG-P2), separated by two glycine residues as spacer arms. The antigenic activity of these peptides was evaluated by UltramicroEnzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (UMELISA) by using panels anti-HTLV-II-positive sera (n = 11), anti-HTLV-I/II-positive sera (n = 2), HTLV-positive (untypeable) serum samples (n = 2), and anti-HTLV-I-positive sera (n = 22), while specificity was evaluated with anti-HIV-positive samples (n = 19) and samples from healthy blood donors (n = 30). The efficacy of the chimeric peptides in solid-phase immunoassays was compared with the monomeric peptides and a mixture of the monomeric peptides. Higher sensitivity was observed for chimeric peptide Q5 assay. Those results may be related to a higher peptide adsorption capacity to the solid surface and for epitope accessibility to the antibodies. This chimeric peptide would be very useful for HTLV-II diagnostic.