Production of monoclonal antibodies to human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) and studies of their specificity

Mouse monoclonal antibodies to HTLV-1 core proteins, p19 and p24, were obtained by hybridoma technique. The specificity was studied by indirect immunofluorescence, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), dot blot, and Western blot studies. Polyclonal antibodies reactive with HTLV-1 viral proteins were raised by rabbits and guinea pigs. A sandwich ELISA and a dot blot method using these antibodies detected the soluble viral antigens in the ATL cell lysate and ATL culture media. No reaction was observed when IL-2-activated human T-cell lysate and the culture media were used as controls. These data showed that our sandwich ELISA and dot blot systems are available for quantitative analysis of the soluble HTLV-1 viral antigens and contribute to understanding the ability of viral replication by ATL cells.