Chemiluminescence immunoassay to detect anti-HTLV-I antibodies.

A fully automated chemiluminescence immunoassay was developed for the detection of antibodies to HTLV-I. We used partially purified viral antigens coated on small polystyrene beads together with acridinium ester-labeled anti-human immunoglobulin G mouse immunoglobulin G in this method. A good agreement was observed between our proposed method, the indirect immunofluorescence assay, the particle-agglutination test and the enzyme immunoassay. This new method, which is simple, sensitive, specific and rapid, should be useful for mass screening of anti-HTLV-I antibodies.