The present invention relates to a novel cell line chronically infected with the HIV-2 NIHZ virus that secretes a precursor of the viral envelope protein in the extracellular medium. These cells are well proliferated in serum-free medium to allow the cell concentration in the conditioned medium to increase significantly ( 100-fold). This concentration step is not obtainable when cells are grown under conventional conditions using 10% fetal calf serum. In addition, a specific affinity procedure is provided for purifying the gp160 protein from a concentrated conditioned medium of a 100-liter batch culture using a mouse monoclonal antibody to the HIV-2 gp41 protein of a portion of the gp160 protein. This purified HIV-2 gp160 is an HIV-2 infected, as evidenced by various criteria such as i) ELISA, ii) western blot analysis and iii) radioimmunoprecipitation of metabolically labeled gp160 from the same cell line It reacts with human antiviral antibodies with high specificity and sensitivity. Thus, purified HIV-2 gp160 from this cell line is a diagnostic tool for detecting HIV-2 infection in the human body. In view of the expected oligomeric properties of gpl60 and the close stereochemical similarity to virion envelope, purified gpl60 may also be useful in the development of a vaccine strategy for HIV-2 in the human body.
展开▼
