Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2004 Jun;42(6):2847-9.
doi: 10.1128/JCM.42.6.2847-2849.2004.

Subtype B human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 mutant that escapes detection in a fourth-generation immunoassay for HIV infection

Catherine Gaudy  1 , Alain Moreau, Sylvie Brunet, Jean-Michel Descamps, Pascale Deleplanque, Denys Brand, Francis Barin
Affiliations
Case Reports

Subtype B human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 mutant that escapes detection in a fourth-generation immunoassay for HIV infection

Catherine Gaudy et al. J Clin Microbiol. 2004 Jun.

Abstract

We report a case of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 infection not detected by a highly sensitive combined antigen-antibody assay. The virus was a subtype B strain harboring a unique sequence within the immunodominant epitope of the transmembrane glycoprotein. Immunochemical analysis indicated that this sequence was probably responsible for the failure to detect HIV antibodies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Serological and molecular characteristics of the reported case of HIV-1 infection not detected by a highly sensitive combined antigen-antibody assay. (A) Results observed with the various screening assays. The ratio of the absorbance of the sample to the cutoff value (OD/CO) is shown for four assays. Values above 1 are positive. The serum sample collection dates are given. Abbreviations: neg, negative; NT, not tested. (B) Western blot analysis of sequential serum samples from patient LA from 6 August 2002 to 10 March 2003. From left to right, the strips are shown in chronological order, with the leftmost strip collected 6 August 2002 (sample collection dates given in panel A). The positions of gp160, gp120, gp32, and p24 (160, 120, 32, and 24, respectively) and reverse transcriptase (RT) are shown to the right of the blot. (C) Phylogenetic analysis of the LA strain. The LA strain is a variant of subtype B. The value at each node indicates the percentage of bootstraps in which the cluster to the right was found. Only values above 50 are shown. (D) Sequences of the immunodominant region of gp41. The consensus sequence of HIV-1 group M (Cons M), the consensus sequence of HIV-1 subtype D (Cons D), and the sequence of the LA strain are shown. Substitutions are shown in red. (E) Binding properties of antibodies present in sequential serum samples from patient LA to peptides of the Cons M (blue), Cons D (yellow), and LA strain (red). The serum sample collection dates are given and start at 6 August 2002.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Apetrei, C., I. Loussert-Ajaka, D. Descamps, F. Damond, S. Saragosti, F. Brun-Vézinet, and F. Simon. 1996. Lack of screening test sensitivity during HIV-1 non-subtype B seroconversions. AIDS 10:F57-F60. - PubMed
    1. Barin, F., Y. Lahbabi, L. Buzelay, B. Lejeune, A. Baillou-Beaufils, F. Denis, C. Mathiot, S. M'Boup, V. Vithayasai, U. Dietrich, and A. Goudeau. 1996. Diversity of antibody binding to V3 peptides representing consensus sequences of HIV type 1 genotypes A to E: an approach for HIV type 1 serological subtyping. AIDS Res. Hum. Retrovir. 12:1279-1289. - PubMed
    1. Dorn, J., S. Masciotra, C. Yang, R. Downing, B. Biryahwaho, T. D. Mastro, J. Nkengasong, D. Pieniazek, M. A. Rayfield, D. J. Hu, and R. B. Lal. 2000. Analysis of genetic variability within the immunodominant epitopes of envelope gp41 from human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) group M and its impact on HIV-1 antibody detection. J. Clin. Microbiol. 38:773-780. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ly, T. D., L. Martin, D. Daghfal, A. Sandridge, D. West, R. Bristow, L. Chalouas, X. Qiu, S. C. Lou, J. C. Hunt, G. Schochetman, and S. G. Devare. 2001. Seven human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antigen-antibody combination assays: evaluation of HIV seroconversion sensitivity and subtype detection. J. Clin. Microbiol. 39:3122-3128. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Saville, R., N. T. Constantine, F. R. Cleghorn, N. Jack, C. Bartholomew, J. Edwards, P. Gomez, and W. A. Blattner. 2001. Fourth-generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the simultaneous detection of human immunodeficiency virus antigen and antibody. J. Clin. Microbiol. 39:2518-2524. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types