Production, Characterization, and Use of Monoclonal Antibodies Against gp51 Protein to Diagnose Bovine Leukemia Virus Infection

Enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL) is a retroviral infection that causes persistent lymphocytosis and lymphosarcoma in cattle. The economic importance of infection by bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is due to several factors, including losses in exportation, treatment of secondary infection, and reduction in dairy production. To facilitate the development of a national test that is sensitive, simple, and applicable on a large scale, this work aimed to produce and characterize monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against gp51 protein from BLV for use in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test. Two hundred seventy-four hybridomas were generated, from which 37 were mAbs secretory clones screened by indirect ELISA. The specificity of the mAbs generated against gp51 was verified by Western blot analysis, and the isotypes were characterized for isotyping in IgG1 and IgM. To evaluate the test, 250 sera were tested by agar gel immunodiffusion and mAb-ELISA. The values obtained for the mAb-ELISA test were 95% sensitivity and 90% specificity.