Diagnostic Potential of a Baculovirus-Expressed Nucleocapsid Protein forHantaviruses

摘要

A non-infectious recombinant, baculovirus-expressed protein, analogous to thenucleocapsid of Hantaan (HTN) virus, and standard Vero E-6 cell culture-prepared HTN antigen, were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) to detect IgG antibodies to various strains of hantaviruses. Rat and human sera previously found to have hantavirus-specific antibodies detectable by the plaque-reduction neutralization test (PRNT) were examined. Results obtained by the immunofluorescent antibody (IFA) test, ELISA, and PRNT were compared. Sera with IFA titers greater than 128 showed a high degree of correlation by both ELISA and PRNT. ELISA tests utilizing baculovirus-expressed protein were almost as sensitive as PRNT in detecting antibodies to HTN, Seoul, and Porogia viruses.