Detection of human immunoglobulins G and M antibodies to Rift Valley fever virus by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Abstract
Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is an important human and animal pathogen in Africa and has been responsible for infections in travelers. Because of the aerosol infectivity and risk of dissemination of the virus, a need exists for simple, safe, serological tests for diagnosis. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to detect RVFV-specific immunoglobulins (immunoglobulin G [IgG] and IgM). In the test, a betapropiolactone-inactivated, sucrose-acetone-extracted, suckling mouse liver RVFV antigen was captured by mouse RVFV antibodies adsorbed to polystyrene plates. The test sample (human serum) was then added, and the binding of specific antibodies was indicated by alkaline phosphatase-conjugated swine anti-human IgG or IgM. A mu-capture IgM ELISA was also developed by using polystyrene plates coated with goat anti-human IgM incubated successively with serum sample, RVFV antigen, and indicator antibodies. The ELISA for RVFV-specific IgG proved to be more sensitive than hemagglutination inhibition or complement fixation tests and almost as sensitive as the plaque reduction neutralization test in detecting specific antibodies in human sera after vaccination. The two ELISA IgM tests could detect specific IgM antibod...Continue Reading
References
Clinical and serologic responses of volunteers infected with phlebotomus fever virus (Sicilian type)
Citations
Related Concepts
Related Feeds
Antibody Specificity
Antibodies produced by B cells are highly specific for antigen as a result of random gene recombination and somatic hypermutation and affinity maturation. As the main effector of the humoral immune system, antibodies can neutralize foreign cells. Find the latest research on antibody specificity here.