title: A rapid antigen capture ELISA for the detection of orthopox viruses.
abstract: A genus-specific antigen capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection orthopox viruses (OPV) was established, testing various combinations of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and rabbit hyper-immune sera. The most sensitive assay was based on capturing antigen with a non-neutralizing MAb against a highly conserved antigenic site of the OPV fusion protein. Bound antigen was detected by a mixture of the two broadly-reactive rabbit anti-monkey-pox- and rabbit anti-vaccinia virus hyper-immune sera. The reaction was visualized by the corresponding anti-species-horseradish-peroxidase- (HRP) conjugate and 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) as substrate. This system was able to identify all OPV-species and isolates which were investigated. The ELISA demonstrated complete agreement with conventional procedures undertaken for qualitative and quantitative OPV-detection. In parallel, 16 defined OPV-strains were analysed by quantitative electron microscopy (calculation of the number of physical particles; PN) and infectivity titration (TCID50/ml) on tissue cultures. When ELISA data were compared with infectivity titers, the detection limits in the ELISA varied in a wide range of 10(2)-10(4) TCID50/ml., depending on different replicative potencies of the individual virus strains. However, when PN was the basis for calculation, a minimum of 10(5) physical virus particles/ml could be detected. Gradient-purified virus was detectable up to a protein content of 15 ng/ml. Maximum optical densities in the sample (OD450nm) reached 2.0, while mock infected tissue cultures of negative samples offered corresponding values of < 0.01.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology, Infectious and Epidemic Diseases, WHO Collaborating Center for Collection and Evaluation of Data on Comparative Virology, Veterinary Faculty, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Johann
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Czerny
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary*; D018155:Orthopoxvirus / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000956:Antigens, Viral