A monoclonal antibody that defines p24, a core protein of adult T-cell leukemia virus, and its precursor.

A mouse hybridoma cell line, H15, produced monoclonal antibody reacting with all the adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) virus (ATLV)-bearing cell lines but none of the ATLV-negative cell lines tested. Binding of H15 antibody to ATLV-bearing cell surfaces was specifically blocked by anti-ATLV positive human sera. Radioimmunoprecipitation analyses revealed that the antigen detected by H15 antibody was p24, a core protein of ATLV. Pulse-chase experiments using H15 antibody led to the identification of a protein, p53, which could be a precursor of p24.