Detection of antibodies to West Nile virus in equine sera using microsphere immunoassay.
One hundred and ninety-one sera from horses that recently were exposed to West Nile virus (WNV) by either vaccination or natural infection or that were not vaccinated and remained free of infection were used to evaluate fluorescent microsphere immunoassays (MIAs) incorporating recombinant WNV envelope protein (rE) and recombinant nonstructural proteins (rNS1, rNS3, and rNS5) for detection of equine antibodies to WNV. The rE MIA had a diagnostic sensitivity and specificity, respectively, of 99.3% and 97.4% for detection of WNV antibodies in the serum of horses that were recently vaccinated or naturally infected with WNV, as compared to the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT). The positive rE MIA results were assumed to be WNV-specific because of the close agreement between this assay and the PRNT and the fact that unvaccinated control horses included in this study were confirmed to be free of exposure to the related St Louis encephalitis virus. The NS protein-based MIA were all less sensitive than either the rE MIA or PRNT (sensitivity 0-48.0), although the rNSI MIA distinguished horses vaccinated with the recombinant WNV vaccine from those that were immunized with the inactivated WNV vaccine (P < 0.0001) or naturally infected with WNV (P < 0.0001). The rE MIA would appear to provide a rapid, convenient, inexpensive, and accurate test for the screening of equine sera for the presence of antibodies to WNV.
Balasuriya
Udeni B R
UB
Equine Viral Disease Laboratory, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Shi
Pei-Yong
PY
Wong
Susan J
SJ
Demarest
Valerie L
VL
Gardner
Ian A
IA
Hullinger
Pamela J
PJ
Ferraro
Gregory L
GL
Boone
Joshua D
JD
De Cino
Casey L
CL
Glaser
Amy L
AL
Renshaw
Randall W
RW
Ledizet
Michel
M
Koski
Raymond A
RA
MacLachlan
N James
NJ
D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D006736:Horses / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D007118:Immunoassay / Q000662:veterinary*; D008863:Microspheres; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology; D014901:West Nile Fever / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*; D014902:West Nile virus / Q000276:immunology*
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D014765:Viral Vaccines