Patent ID: 6025125
Filing Date: 2000-02-15
Classification: A61K,A61P,C07K,C12N,G01N

Abstract:
A method of determining the presence of antibodies specifically reactive with HIV retroviral antigens in a sample comprising the steps of:(a) obtaining and preparing a sample suspected of containing HIV retroviral specific antibodies,(b) contacting the sample of step (a) with a non-infectious, non-replicating, immunogenic HIV-like particle as antigen under condition which permit binding of antibody to antigen and the formation of an antigen antibody immune complex, wherein said particle contains a heterologous antigenic marker and comprises an assembly of:(i) an env gene product;(ii) a pol gene product;(iii) a gag gene product; and,(iv) at least one non-retroviral, non-mammalian heterologous antigenic marker,wherein said marker, when presented in the context of the retrovirus-like particle, is capable of generating an immune response to said antigenic marker when the particle is administered to a host, said particle being encoded by a modified HIV retroviral genome deficient in long terminal repeats (LTRs) and containing gag, pol and env in their natural genomic arrangement and a heterologous nucleic acid insert encoding said at least one antigenic marker, and(c) detecting said immune complex formation.