title: Development and evaluation of a whole virus-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of human metapneumovirus antibodies in human sera.
abstract: To apply serological testing for human metapneumovirus (hMPV) to large-scale sera samples, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed in which purified virions were used as the antigen. The ELISA was evaluated using 102 human sera specimens from patients aged 0-59 years. There was a positive association between the ELISA results and neutralization test titers, with the correlation coefficients being greater in children <6 years old (rho=0.899, P<0.0001), which is consistent with a primary infection, than in persons >or=6 years old (rho=0.523, P<0.0001). Fifty sera samples were subjected to radioimmunoprecipitation to measure the quantity of antibodies to the fusion protein (RIP-F) and the nucleoprotein (RIP-N). The results showed significant associations between the ELISA titers and the amount of RIP-F as determined by radioimmunoprecipitation in children <6 years old (rho=0.804, P=0.0083) and in persons >or=6 years old (rho=0.577, P=0.0009). The correlation between the ELISA titer and the amount of RIP-N determined by radioimmunoprecipitation was not significant in persons >or=6 years old (rho=0.417, P=0.0829), although this correlation was significant in children <6 years old (rho=0.764, P=0.0137). The ELISA titer correlated with the amount of antibodies to the F protein, but not to the N protein. This whole virus-based ELISA will be useful for the diagnosis of hMPV infection in clinical laboratories and is also useful for the large-scale investigations, such as seroprevalence among residents of a particular region.
authors.affiliation: Virus Research Center, Clinical Research Division, Sendai Medical Center, Sendai 983-8520, Japan.
authors.forename: Michiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Kanetsu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugawara
authors.forename: Emi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Takashita
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Muraki
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hongo
authors.forename: Katsumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mizuta
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Itagaki
authors.forename: Hidekazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsuzaki
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D047468:Immunoprecipitation; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D029121:Metapneumovirus / Q000276:immunology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D018184:Paramyxoviridae Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014773:Virology / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral