A monoclonal antibody specific for a 52,000-molecular-weight human T-cell leukemia virus-associated glycoprotein expressed by infected cells.

A monoclonal antibody, designated HT462, is described which is specific for an antigen expressed in human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus (HTLV) preparations and by HTLV-infected cells. In indirect immunofluorescence assays, the antigen was detected on the surface of both HTLV-transformed producer and nonproducer cells, including cells infected in vitro with either HTLV subgroup I (HTLV-I) or HTLV-II. Normal human peripheral blood lymphocytes stimulated with phytohemagglutinin, cord blood T cells cultured with T-cell growth factor, and a variety of HTLV-negative T- and B-cell lines all lacked HT462 antigen expression. The HT462 antigen is a 52,000-molecular-weight glycoprotein, as shown by Western blotting procedures and treatment of viral preparations with neuraminidase, endoglycosidase F, and trypsin. The unglycosylated molecule is approximately 42,000 daltons. That the antigen is virus associated was demonstrated by its banding at the density of HTLV in gradients of metrizamide and by its concomitant synthesis with HTLV gag proteins after short-term culture of primary HTLV-positive leukemic cells. Differential expression of the HT462 antigen and HTLV gag-pol gene products was observed. In one case, low HT462 expression was correlated with the known inability of the particular cell line to produce syncytia in vitro. The properties of the HT462 antigen are most consistent with it being a gene product of the HTLV px region or else a cellular antigen specifically induced after viral infection. We cannot rule out, however, that the antigen is a variant cleavage product of the env gene. The monoclonal HT462 will be useful in further definition of the proteins and functions encoded by the env-px genetic sequence and in studying the biological properties of HTLV-transformed cells. Furthermore, the monoclonal, by recognizing HTLV-transformed nonproducers, will allow a greater spectrum of virus-infected cells to be detected.