title: Novel microneutralization assay for HCMV using automated data collection and analysis.
abstract: In addition to being sensitive and specific, an assay for the assessment of neutralizing antibody activity from clinical trial samples must be amenable to automation for use in high-volume screening. To that effect, we developed a 96-well microplate assay for the measurement of HCMV-neutralizing activity in human sera using the HCMV-permissive human cell line HEL-299 and the laboratory strain of HCMV AD169. The degree to which neutralizing antibodies diminish HCMV infection of cells in the assay is determined by quantifying the nuclei of infected cells based on expression of the 72 kDa IE1 viral protein. Nuclear IE1 is visualized using a highly sensitive immunoperoxidase staining and the stained nuclei are counted using an automated ELISPOT analyzer. The use of Half Area 96-well microplates, with wells in which the surface area of the well bottom is half the area of a standard 96-well microplate plate, improves signal detection compared with standard microplates and economizes on the usage of indicator cells, virus, and reagents. The staining process was also streamlined by using a microplate washer and data analysis was simplified and accelerated by employing a software program that automatically plots neutralization curves and determines NT(50) values using 4-PL curve fitting. The optimized assay is not only fast and convenient, but also specific, sensitive, precise and reproducible and thus has the characteristics necessary for use in measuring HCMV-neutralizing activity in the sera of vaccine trial subjects such as the recipients of Vical's HCMV pDNA vaccine candidates.
authors.affiliation: Vical Inc., 10390 Pacific Center Court, San Diego, California 92121, USA. a_abai@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Anna Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Abai
authors.forename: Larry R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Mary K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Wloch
mesh_terms: D001769:Blood / Q000821:virology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003165:Complement System Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008904:Miniaturization; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D003165:Complement System Proteins