title: A Rapid Zika Diagnostic Assay to Measure Neutralizing Antibodies in Patients.
abstract: The potential association of microcephaly and other congenital abnormalities with Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy underlines the critical need for a rapid and accurate diagnosis. Due to the short duration of ZIKV viremia in infected patients, a serologic assay that detects antibody responses to viral infection plays an essential role in diagnosing patient specimens. The current serologic diagnosis of ZIKV infection relies heavily on the labor-intensive Plaque Reduction Neutralization Test (PRNT) that requires more than one-week turnaround time and represents a major bottleneck for patient diagnosis. To overcome this limitation, we have developed a high-throughput assay for ZIKV and dengue virus (DENV) diagnosis that can attain the "gold standard" of the current PRNT assay. The new assay is homogeneous and utilizes luciferase viruses to quantify the neutralizing antibody titers in a 96-well format. Using 91 human specimens, we showed that the reporter diagnostic assay has a higher dynamic range and maintains the relative specificity of the traditional PRNT assay. Besides the improvement of assay throughput, the reporter virus technology has also shortened the turnaround time to less than two days. Collectively, our results suggest that, along with the viral RT-PCR assay, the reporter virus-based serologic assay could be potentially used as the first-line test for clinical diagnosis of ZIKV infection as well as for vaccine clinical trials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Xuping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Loeffelholz
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Yujiao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Furuya
authors.affiliation: Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Alan P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Dupuis
authors.affiliation: Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Laura D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.affiliation: Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Susan J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA; Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA; Sealy Center for Structural Biology & Molecular Biophysics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA; Institute for Translational Science, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA. Electronic address: peshi@utmb.edu.
authors.forename: Pei-Yong
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Shi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing / Q000276:immunology; D002460:Cell Line; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D006224:Cricetinae; D003412:Cricetulus; D006801:Humans; D009500:Neutralization Tests / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic / Q000592:standards*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014709:Vero Cells; D000071243:Zika Virus Infection / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic
keywords: Dengue virus; Flavivirus diagnosis; Neutralization assay; Serologic assay; Zika virus