Objective: To evaluate avidity of IgG anti-b2-glycoprotein I antibodies (anti-b2-GPI) in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in relation to thrombosis, and to demonstrate a possible affinity maturation of IgG anti-b2-GPI during the disease course. Methods: 64 sera from 32 patients (18 with primary or secondary APS, 14 with SLE without APS) and th...

In the present study, anti-Leishmania immunoglobulin G (IgG) avidity was used to estimate the approximate time of disease manifestation. Significant differences (P < 0.0001) were found between the levels of anti-rKE-16 IgG avidity in leishmaniasis patients with recent and chronic diseases. More than 76% of patients with an illness duration of less than 6 months had avidity of less than 70%, 94%...

A T-cell receptor (TCR) with optimal avidity to a tumor antigen can be used redirect T cells eradicate cancer via adoptive cell transfer. Cancer testis antigens (CTAs) are attractive targets because they expressed in the testis, which is immune-privileged, and tumor. However, CTAs self-antigens natural TCRs have low affinity/avidity due central tolerance. We previously described method of direc...

BACKGROUND Accurate and reliable laboratory methods are needed for estimation of HIV-1 incidence to identify the high-risk populations and target and monitor prevention efforts. We previously described a single-well limiting-antigen avidity enzyme immunoassay (LAg-Avidity EIA) to detect recent HIV-1 infection. METHODS We describe here further optimization and characterization of LAg-Avidity E...

To perform IgG avidity immunoblotting assay for detection of acute toxoplasmosis, 100 serum samples were collected from Tehran, Iran. The presence of Toxoplasma-specific IgG and IgM antibodies were checked by commercial Trinity kit. Samples were categorized in acute and chronic phases of Toxoplasma gondii infection according to IgG avidity ELISA. IgG avidity immunoblotting was performed, and an...

The improved efficacy of high avidity CTL for clearance of virus has been well-documented. Thus, elucidation of the mechanisms that confer the increased sensitivity to peptide ligand demonstrated by high avidity CTL is critical. Using CTL lines of high and low avidity generated from a TCR transgenic mouse, we have found that functional avidity can be controlled by the expression of CD8alphaalph...

In this study, we analysed IgG avidity to p 15.5 kD, p 17 kD and p 47 kD antigens by a new avidity assay termed avidity western blot. The determination was performed in two groups. Group I consisted of 27 patients with primary and secondary syphilis and group II comprised 10 subjects with latent syphilis. We found that low avidity antibodies were directed against the p 17 kD and p 47 kD antigen...

BACKGROUND Accurate and practical biologic tools to estimate HIV incidence is crucial to better monitor the epidemic and evaluate the effectiveness of HIV prevention and treatment programs. METHODS We evaluated two avidity assays to measure recent HIV infection: the Sedia HIV-1 LAg-Avidity EIA (Sedia Biosciences, Portland) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-modified Bio-...

High avidity cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) are important in viral clearance and anti-tumor immunity, however, mechanisms for their optimal generation and maintenance in vivo remain unclear. Immunizing mice with an antibody-DNA vaccine encoding a single CTL epitope, induces a 100 fold higher avidity response than peptide vaccination with the identical epitope. The high avidity response is retain...

Following primary human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection, virus-specific IgG antibody shift from low to high avidity with individual variations in the rate of avidity maturation. The kinetics of the avidity maturation of IgG specific for HCMV nuclear antigen in pregnant women with primary infection was investigated. Absorbance values used for avidity index calculation of 286 sequential sera col...