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Diagnosis of human parvovirus B19 infections by detection of epitope‐type‐specific VP2 IgG
Author(s) -
Kaikkonen Leena,
SöderlundVenermo Maria,
Brunstein John,
Schou Ole,
Jensen Inge Panum,
Rousseau Steve,
Caul E. Owen,
Cohen Bernard,
Valle Martti,
Hedman Lea,
Hedman Klaus
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.1059
Subject(s) - virology , epitope , parvoviridae , parvovirus , biology , antibody , virus , medicine , immunology
In the B19 VP2 molecule an immunodominant heptapeptide epitope has been detected, recently for which IgG antibodies are synthesized exclusively in the acute phase of B19 infection. Using this acute‐phase‐specific epitope (KYVTGIN) a 2 nd ‐generation epitope‐type EIA was developed, which compares serum IgG activity for native VP2 capsids exhibiting conformational VP2 epitopes with IgG activity for the KYVTGIN epitope. In this study the diagnostic performance (clinical sensitivity and specificity) of the 1 st and 2 nd ‐generation epitope‐type EIAs and of a peptide‐based EIA utilising as antigen the KYVTGIN epitope alone was assessed in comparison with various high‐quality IgM‐ and IgG‐ based B19 assays. Serum samples from 489 patients with B19‐related symptoms and asymptomatic controls from three countries were studied. Among 323 patients with B19‐IgG, 20% were diagnosed as acute infection, 73% had past immunity and 7% were not classified due to contradictory results among the different assays. The unclassified samples were explored for viral strain diversity by PCR and DNA sequencing but all sequences obtained were B19‐like with variance of only a few per cent. The 2 nd ‐generation epitope‐type EIA had a diagnostic sensitivity of 98% and a diagnostic specificity of 94%. In combination with conventional approaches, the epitope‐type assays increase greatly the accuracy of B19 serodiagnosis. J. Med. Virol. 64:360–365, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.