Figure 7

Plasma IgA levels to purified subtype C gp120 protein are highest in two of the three superinfected individuals. Purified gp120 protein from the Zambian subtype C seroconverter ZM205F [23, 29] was used with serial dilutions of IgG-depleted plasma in a gp120 binding ELISA. Autologous plasma from ZM205F was used as a positive control for presence of gp120-specific binding antibodies (dark blue). Levels of gp120-specific IgA binding antibodies in IgG-depleted plasma from time points prior to superinfection for superinfected individuals (ZM282M: red, ZM211F: orange) and similar plasma time points for non-superinfected controls (grey) was measured at a 1:125 plasma dilution. For ZM247F, in which superinfection was detected at 3-months post-seroconversion, we tested this 3-month plasma (green). Positive absorption was recognized as absorption greater than five-times that of the normal human plasma (NHP) control and is shown as a dashed line.