title: New, ultrasensitive enzyme immunoassay for detecting vaccine- and disease-induced hepatitis A virus-specific immunoglobulin G in saliva.
abstract: Although detection of disease-induced hepatitis A virus (HAV)-specific antibodies in saliva has been successfully utilized in a few epidemiological studies, available assays fail to detect lower salivary anti-HAV levels associated with vaccine-induced immunity. We present a new capture enzyme immunoassay which employs a three-layer antibody recognition system. Evaluation of paired saliva-serum specimens from 1,025 international travellers, 134 other volunteers, and 91 hepatitis A vaccine recipients demonstrated 99.6% (95% confidence interval, 98.4 to 99.9) specificity and 98.7% (95% confidence interval, 97.7 to 99.4) sensitivity of this salivary assay in differentiating between immune and susceptible individuals, compared with serum-based methods. We conclude that this assay is sufficiently sensitive for reliable detection of both vaccine- and infection-induced HAV-specific immunoglobulin G in saliva, even when corresponding anti-HAV levels in serum are very low (< 1 IU/ml).
authors.affiliation: Vaccine Evaluation Center, BC's Children's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada. jochnio@wpog.childhosp.bc.ca
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Ochnio
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Scheifele
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Mitchell
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D006507:Hepatovirus / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D012463:Saliva / Q000821:virology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines