Recombinant gp135 envelope glycoproteins of caprine arthritis-encephalitis lentivirus variants inhibit homologous and heterologous variant-specific neutralizing antibodies.

The envelope (env) genes of two antigenic variants of caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus (CAEV), defined by serum neutralization, were expressed in vaccinia virus. Recombinant gp135 envelope glycoprotein competitively inhibited neutralizing activity of serum from CAEV-infected goats, indicating gp135 is a dominant target antigen of CAEV neutralizing antibody. In addition, type-specific neutralizing activity of goat serum directed against one variant was inhibited by both homologous and heterologous variant recombinant gp135. Hence, a CAEV variant env gene encodes type-specific neutralization epitopes of both variants. The results indicate that antigenic variation of CAEV involves env gene mutations encoding amino acid differences outside conserved neutralization epitopes affecting epitope exposure to the immune system.