title: Development of a neutralizing monoclonal antibody-based blocking ELISA for detection of equine herpesvirus 1 antibodies.
abstract: A single-dilution, sensitive and specific monoclonal antibody-based blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (B-ELISA) was developed as an alternative to the cumbersome virus neutralization test (VNT) for detection of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) antibodies. Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (1H6 and 9C6) raised against EHV-1 (Hisar-90-7 strain) and sera from 70 horses (30 known negative and 40 known positive for EHV-1 antibodies by VNT) were used for standardization of the B-ELISA. Using a single serum dilution of 1:250 in B-ELISA, 100% specificity was obtained with both monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) in comparison to VNT. Similarly, the sensitivity of the B-ELISA was 92.5% and 100% with 1H6 and 9C6 Mabs, respectively. A very high correlation coefficient (r = 0.85) was observed between B-ELISA and VNT that was significant at the p < 0.01 level. B-ELISA detected a more than 3-fold rise in antibody titres in paired serum samples collected from mares aborting owing to EHV-1 infection. Mab 9C6 was chosen for testing 231 field sera from apparently healthy vaccinated and non-vaccinated horses from organized breeding farms belonging to 11 Indian states, and from Bhutan, by B-ELISA and VNT. There was very good agreement between the results obtained by both VNT and B-ELISA (K = 0.9438). Of 231 field sera, 144 samples were negative for EHV- 1 antibodies by both VNT and B-ELISA and 81 were positive by both tests. Two samples negative by VNT were found positive in B-ELISA. On the other hand, four weakly positive samples in VNT (VN antibody titre 0.9 1.2 log10) were negative in B-ELISA. The Mab (9C6)-based B-ELISA was found to be a suitable alternative to VNT for screening large numbers of field sera and enabled confirmatory EHV-1 serodiagnosis.
authors.affiliation: National Research Centre on Equines, Sirsa Road, Hisar-125001 (Haryana), India. bksinghnrce@yahoo.com.in
authors.forename: B K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahuja
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Gulati
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D004861:Herpesvirus 1, Equid / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006736:Horses; D009500:Neutralization Tests / Q000662:veterinary; D012867:Skin / Q000196:embryology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000914:Antibodies, Viral