Comparison of the sensitivities of two non-isotopic reverse transcriptase (RT) assays for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 RT.

The sensitivities of two reverse transcriptase (RT) assays, an enzyme-linked oligonucleotide sorbent assay (ELOSA)-RT assay and a non-radioisotopic (non-RI) RT assay were compared. For measuring recombinant HIV-1 RT, the ELOSA-RT assay was 8 times less sensitive in dilution endpoint and 16 times less sensitive in measurement of RT from pelleted HIV-1 than the non-RI RT assay. Higher level of interference by an RNA-DNA hybrid observed in the former assay may indicate that the reduction in sensitivity was due to the presence of viral RNA in the sample of pelleted virus. The ELOSA-RT assay was interfered with to a great extent than the non-RI RT assay by fetal bovine serum and thus may be unsuitable for measuring RT from HIV-1 in a culture supernatant.