The generation of human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against HIV-1 has been based entirely on the selection of mAbs that bind either to infected cells or to peptides and proteins representing the viral envelope, These methods resulted in the production of many interesting mAbs, including some that neutralize virus; but they have failed to define all of the antigenic structures that exist on the surface of intact virus particles, especially those where quaternary protein interactions occur. In order to determine if Abs to the quaternary epitopes exist and antibodies directed against them can neutralize primary HIV isolates, binding assays were replaced with a neutralization assay to screen for Ab-producing cells
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