Interassay correlation of human herpesvirus 8 serologic tests. HHV-8 Interlaboratory Collaborative Group.
To standardize human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) antibody assays for application to asymptomatic infection, a blinded comparison was done of seven immunofluorescence assays and ELISAs. Five experienced laboratories tested a serum panel from 143 subjects in 4 diagnostic groups. Except for a minor capsid protein ELISA, the other six tests detected HHV-8 antibodies most frequently in classic (80%-100%) and AIDS-related (67%-91%) Kaposi's sarcoma, followed by human immunodeficiency virus-seropositive patients (27%-60%), and least frequently in healthy blood donors (0-29%). However, these six assays frequently disagreed on individual sera, particularly for blood donor samples. Current HHV-8 antibody tests have uncertain accuracy in asymptomatic HHV-8 infection and may require correlation with viral protein or nucleic acid detection. Antibody assays are useful for epidemiologic investigations, but the absolute prevalence of HHV-8 infection in the United States cannot yet be determined.
Rabkin
C S
CS
Viral Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Schulz
T F
TF
Whitby
D
D
Lennette
E T
ET
Magpantay
L I
LI
Chatlynne
L
L
Biggar
R J
RJ
D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D002213:Capsid / Q000276:immunology; D002461:Cell Line, Transformed; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect / Q000592:standards; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012514:Sarcoma, Kaposi / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D000914:Antibodies, Viral