Synopsis: Antibody levels are a good indicator of
infection and can be easily assayed. Elevated levels of
antibodies specific for HIV may indicate an active or
aggressive infection. Increasing antibody levels can
demonstrate increased exposure of the immune system to the
virus either by increased levels of replication or in an
initial exposure. These antibodies may be able to prevent
binding of the virus particles to their target cells.
Why would the effectiveness of the humoral response
indicate the health of the rest of the immune system?
Why does the humoral arm of the immune system not play
as significant a role in halting the progression of viral
diseases as the cell mediated?
Procedure:
1:
50 microliters of free virus equivalent to 500 TCID50
(500 times the amount required to infect 50% of the cells in
a tissue culture) is added to each well.
2:
Various dilutions of the test serum are added.
3:
These solutions are added to growth media and incubated
for 1 hour.
What is the purpose of this incubation period?
4:
The prepared viral solutions were then mixed with cells
(MT-2) to test for infectiveness.
5:
If high levels of neutralizing antibodies are present,
cell cultures will experience little to no infection even
when the serum is highly diluted.
6:
It is then determined what antibody dilution is needed to
protect 50% of the cell culture from viral destruction.
If few cells are infected at high serum
dilutions, does that indicate greater or lesser antibody
activity against the virus?