Resistance to rotavirus infection in adult volunteers challenged with a virulent G1P1A[8] virus correlated with serum immunoglobulin G antibodies to homotypic viral proteins 7 and 4.
BACKGROUND
In a study performed in 1983, 18 adult volunteers received oral challenge with the virulent human rotavirus strain D (G1P1A[8],NSP4[B]). To identify correlates of resistance to rotavirus infection, we analyzed levels of serum immunoglobulin (Ig) A and IgG antibodies to various rotaviral antigens in 16 of the 18 volunteers.


METHODS
We used immunocytochemical assays that involved a total of 16 different recombinant baculoviruses, with each baculovirus expressing one of the following major serotype/genotype rotavirus proteins for the serologic assays: (1) viral protein (VP) 4 with P1A[8], P1B[4], P2A[6], P3[9], or P4[10] specificity; (2) VP7 with G1-G4 or G9 specificity; and (3) nonstructural viral protein (NSP) 4 with genotype A, B, C, or D specificity.


RESULTS
The prechallenge titers of IgG antibody to VP7 types G1, G3, G4, and G9; VP4 types P1A[8], P1B[4], P2A[6], and P4[10]; and NSP4 type [A] in the group of noninfected volunteers (n = 11) were significantly higher than those in the group of infected volunteers (n = 5; of these 5 volunteers, 4 were symptomatically infected). Moreover, logistic regression analysis showed that resistance to rotavirus infection most closely correlated with higher prechallenge titers of IgG antibody to homotypic VP7 (G1) and VP4 (P1A[8]).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that protection against rotavirus infection and disease is primarily VP7/VP4 homotypic and, to a lesser degree, heterotypic.
Epidemiology Section, Laboratory of Infectious Disease, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-8026, USA.
Lijuan
L
Yuan
Shinjiro
S
Honma
Inyoung
I
Kim
Albert Z
AZ
Kapikian
Yasutaka
Y
Hoshino
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000918:Antibody Specificity / Q000276:immunology*; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology*; D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000276:immunology; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D012401:Rotavirus / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology*; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D055815:Young Adult
D000956:Antigens, Viral; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; C060339:VP4 protein, Rotavirus; C050779:VP7 protein, Rotavirus