title: An immunoenzymatic assay for the diagnosis of hepatitis A utilising immunoglobulin Y.
abstract: The detection of anti-hepatitis A virus (HAV) antibody levels by diagnostic kits in the convalescent period of disease generally use immunoglobulin G (IgG), which is expensive. An alternative to IgG is immunoglobulin Y (IgY), an immunoglobulin antibody encountered in birds and reptiles. The aim of this study was to develop a competitive immunoenzymatic assay to measure total anti-HAV antibody levels using anti-HAV IgY as the capture and conjugated immunoglobulins. For this purpose, anti-HAV IgY was conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and the optimal dilution of HRP-conjugated antibodies was evaluated to establish the competitive immuneenzymatic assay. The results obtained from our "in-house" assay were plotted on a receiver operator curve, which showed a sensitivity of 95% and a specificity of 98.8%, demonstrating that a competitive anti-HAV IgY immunoenzymatic assay developed "in house" could be used as an alternative to commercial assays that utilise IgG.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. alexsantos@ioc.fiocruz.br
authors.forename: Alexandre dos Santos da
authors.initials: Ados S
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Gentil Arthur Lins Bentes Mendonça de
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Vasconcelos
authors.forename: Livia Abud
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Kappel
authors.forename: Marcelo Alves
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: Vanessa Salete de
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Paula
mesh_terms: D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000175:diagnosis*; D035922:Hepatitis A Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D030041:Hepatitis A virus / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques / Q000379:methods; D007136:Immunoglobulins; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D035922:Hepatitis A Antibodies; C016512:IgY; D007136:Immunoglobulins