Immunoassay targeting nonstructural protein 5 to differentiate West Nile virus infection from dengue and St. Louis encephalitis virus infections and from flavivirus vaccination

Susan J. Wong, Rebekah H. Boyle, Valerie L. Demarest, Anh N. Woodmansee, Laura D. Kramer, Hongmin Li, Michael Drebot, Raymond A. Koski, Erol Fikrig, Denise A. Martin, Pei Yong Shi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

103 Scopus citations

Abstract

West Nile virus (WNV) is an emerging flavivirus that has caused frequent epidemics since 1996. Besides natural transmission by mosquitoes, WNV can also be transmitted through blood transfusion and organ transplantation, thus heightening the urgency of development of a specific and rapid serologic assay of WNV infection. The current immunoassays lack specificity because they are based on detection of antibodies against WNV structural proteins and immune responses to structural proteins among flaviviruses cross-react to each other. Here, we describe microsphere immunoassays that detect antibodies to nonstructural proteins 3 and 5 (NS3 and NS5). In contrast to immunoassays based on viral envelope and NS3 proteins, the NS5-based assay (i) reliably discriminates between WNV infections and dengue virus or St. Louis encephalitis virus infections, (ii) differentiates between flavivirus vaccination and natural WNV infection, and (iii) indicates recent infections. These unique features of the NS5-based immunoassay will be very useful for both clinical and veterinary diagnosis of WNV infection.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)4217-4223
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Clinical Microbiology
Volume41
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2003
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Microbiology (medical)

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