Binding behaviour of antibodies reacting specifically with an immunodominant region of the transmembrane protein gp41 of HIV-1

A highly conserved region of the transmembrane protein gp41 of the HIV-1 was found in which the amino acid sequence 606 to 620 was characterized as an immunodominant region. The binding behaviours of a human monoclonal antibody and of polyclonal specific antibodies in sera of HIV-infected persons to this particular sequence have been studied. In two sandwich-type ELISAs with synthetic peptides as antigen representing this region, sera of 312 HIV-infected persons at all stages could be clearly discriminated against 500 anti-HIV antibody negative sera of healthy blood donors.