Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Elsevier - PMC COVID-19 Collection logoLink to Elsevier - PMC COVID-19 Collection
. 2002 Nov 12;14(3):213–228. doi: 10.1016/0166-0934(86)90023-6

The causes of false-positives encountered during the screening of old-world primates for antibodies to human and simian retroviruses by ELISA

Niels C Pedersen 1, Linda Lowenstine 2, Preston Marx 3, Joanne Higgins 4, Jean Baulu 5, Michael McGuire 6, Murray B Gardner 7
PMCID: PMC7119498  PMID: 3025237

Abstract

Sera from 526 old-world primates representing 50 different species were screened by ELISA for antibodies to human T-lymphotropic viruses I and III, and simian retrovirus type 1 (SRV-1). About onefourth of the sera were positive by ELISA. There was a tendency, however, for the same sera to be positive for all three human and simian retroviruses. Only about one in five of the ELISA antibodypositive sera were confirmed to be positive by Western blotting. False-positive ELISA antibody tests were particularly common among sera from mandrills, crab-eating macaques, lion-tailed macaques, African green monkeys, and DeBrazza's and moustached guenons. Sera that were falsely positive in ELISA antibody tests to the three human and simian retroviruses were found to contain antibodies that reacted at comparable intensity with feline leukemia, infectious peritonitis and panleukopenia viruses. The false anti-viral activity of these sera was found to be due to antibodies that reacted with non-viral proteins that were copurified with all five virus preparations. These proteins were present in normal cat and human cells used to grow the various viruses and in gelatin. The implications of nonspecific cell-protein antibodies in primate sera were discussed in the light of this and previous seroepidemiologic studies of man and old-world monkeys.

Keywords: primate, retrovirus, ELISA, false-positive

References

  1. Biggar R.J. Lancet. 1986;1:79–83. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(86)90728-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Biggar R.J., Gigase P.L., Melbye M., Kestens L., Sarin P.S., Bodner A., Demedts P., Stevens W.J., Puluku L., Delacollette C., Blattner W.A. Lancet. 1985;2:520–523. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(85)90461-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Boyle J.F., Pedersen N.C., Evermann J.F., McKiernan A.J., Ott R.L., Black J.W. Adv. Exp. Biol. Med. 1984;173:133–147. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4615-9373-7_12. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bradford M.M. Anal. Biochem. 1976;723:248–254. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(76)90527-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Brun-Vezinet F., Jaeger G., Rouzioux C., Rey M.A., Dazza M.C., Chamaret S., Montagnier L. Lancet. 1986;1:854. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(86)90960-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Carlson J.R., Bryant M.L., Hinrichs S.H., Yamamoto J.K., Levy N.B., Yee J., Higgins J., Levine A.M., Holland P., Gardner M.B., Pedersen N.C. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 1985;253:3405–3408. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Carlson J., Hinrichs S., Levy N., Yee J., Higgins H., Bryant M., Yamamoto J., Gardner M., Pedersen N., Holland P. Lancet. 1985:523–524. [Google Scholar]
  8. Damian R.T., Greene D. In: Pathology of Simian Primates. T-W-Fiennes R.N., editor. S. Karger; New York: 1972. pp. 342–379. Part 1. [Google Scholar]
  9. Daniel M.D., Letvin N.L., King N.W., Kannagi M., Sehgal P.K., Hunt R.D., Kanki P.J., Essex M., Desrosiers R.C. Science. 1985;228:1201–1204. doi: 10.1126/science.3159089. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Epstein J.S., Moffitt A.J., Mayner R.E. 25th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy; Minneapolis; 1985. [Google Scholar]
  11. Higgins J., Pedersen N.C., Carlson J.R. J. Clin. Microbiol. 1986 in press. [Google Scholar]
  12. Kalter S.S. In: Marburg Virus Disease. Martini G.A., Siegert R., editors. Springer-Verlag; New York: 1971. pp. 177–187. [Google Scholar]
  13. Kalter S.S., Ratner J.J., Heberling R.L. Vol. 130. 1969. pp. 10–11. (Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med.). [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Laemmli U.K. Nature. 1970;227:680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Lowenstine L.J., Pedersen N.C., Higgins J., Pallis K.C., Uyeda A., Marx P., Lerche N.W., Gardner M.B. Int. J. Cancer. 1986 doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910380417. in press. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Lutz H., Pedersen N.C., Durbin R., Theilen G.H. J. Immunol. Methods. 1983;56:209–220. doi: 10.1016/0022-1759(83)90413-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Marx P.A., Maul D.H., Osborn K.G., Lerche N.W., Moody P., Lowenstine L.S., Henrickson R.V., Arthur L.O., Gravell M., London W.T., Sever J.L., Levy J.A., Munn R.J., Gardner M.B. Science. 1984;223:1083–1086. doi: 10.1126/science.6695196. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Mathys A., Mueller R., Pedersen N.C., Theilen G.H. Am. J. Vet. Res. 1983;44:152–154. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Pedersen N.C., Boyle J.F., Floyd K. Am. J. Vet. Res. 1981;42:363–367. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Sainger W.C., Levine P.H., Dean A.G., The G.D., Lange-Wantzin G., Moghissi J., Laurent F., Hoh H., Sarngadharan M.G., Gallo R.C. Science. 1985;277:1036–1038. doi: 10.1126/science.2983417. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Snyder H.W., Jr., Fox M. J. Immunol. 1978;120:646–651. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Snyder H.W., Jr., Pincus T., Fleissner E. Virology. 1976;75:60–73. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(76)90007-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Strickland-Cholmley M., Malherbe H. In: Marburg Virus Disease. Martini G.A., Siegert R., editors. Springer-Verlag; New York: 1971. pp. 195–202. [Google Scholar]
  24. Theilen G.H., Kawakami T.G., Rush J.D., Munn R.J. Nature. 1969;222:549–550. doi: 10.1038/222589b0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Tsang V.C.W., Peralta J.M., Simms A.R. Methods Enzymol. 1983;92:377–391. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(83)92032-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Virological Methods are provided here courtesy of Elsevier

RESOURCES