Rapid assessment of relationships among HIV isolates by oligopeptide analyses of external envelope glycoproteins.

The most variable proteins, the gp120's, of the many isolates of HIV-I can be readily compared by two-dimensional oligopeptide maps. The gp120 in a given cell line is completely stable, but the cell line defines the actual gp120 size and may induce minor peptide changes. HTLV-IIIB and LAV differ slightly from each other even when grown in the same cell line, while LAV grown in a B cell line is less related. Molecularly distant isolates have unique patterns. While anti-HTLV-IIIB gp120 antibody neutralized both HTLV-IIIB and LAV, it recognizes only the homologous HTLV-IIIB infected cells in cytotoxicity assays. Structural analysis of isolates should be helpful in defining the range of immunological reactivities among variants as a contribution to a rational approach to a vaccine against AIDS.