Detection of antibodies to avian leukosis/sarcoma viruses (ALSV) and reticuloendotheliosis viruses (REV) in humans by ELISA.

We used a modified commercial ELISA kit to test for antibodies to avian leukosis/sarcoma and reticuloendotheliosis viral antigens in the sera of 45 poultry workers and their matched controls. We found that 42% of sera from poultry workers had anti-avian leukosis Sarcoma viruses (anti-ALSV) and 20% had anti-reticuloendotheliosis viruses (anti-REV), antibody titers that were higher than the highest titer recorded in control subjects, and hence were regarded as positive. To determine the specificity of these reactions, selected sera were absorbed with ALSV or REV antigens alone, or with chick embryo fibroblasts (CEF) alone, or with both CEF and ALSV/REV, and then retested. In each case, absorption resulted in a statistically significant reduction in absorbance, which was greatest for the combined CEF and ALSV/REV absorption, thus suggesting that the reactions involved viral as well as chicken antigens. However, definitive tests such as Western Blot analyses are needed to confirm whether indeed antibodies to these viruses were specifically elicited in human sera.