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Immunohistological detection of human parvovirus B19 in formalinfixed, paraffin‐embedded tissues
Author(s) -
Morey Adrienne L.,
O'neill Hugh J.,
Coyle Peter V.,
Fleming Kenneth A.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
the journal of pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.964
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1096-9896
pISSN - 0022-3417
DOI - 10.1002/path.1711660204
Subject(s) - parvovirus , parvoviridae , biology , virology , epitope , monoclonal antibody , antigen , immunohistochemistry , antibody , pathology , virus , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , medicine
Human parvovirus B19 is a cause of aplastic crises in patients with haemolytic anaemias, prolonged bone marrow failure in the immunosuppressed, and fetal death secondary to non‐immune hydrops. The immunohistological detection of parvovirus B19 in formalin‐fixed, paraffin‐embedded tissues has not previously been reported, and definitive diagnosis of infection in such specimens has relied on the use of specialized DNA hybridization and amplification techniques. A new monoclonal antibody to B19 capsid proteins, R92F6, was found to be capable of labelling infected cells in paraffin‐embedded tissues from all 19 cases of parvovirus‐related fetal hydrops tested, and in bone marrow from a child with congenital immunodeficiency and chronic parvovirus infection. Viral antigen was detected both in cytoplasmic and in nuclear distributions using the alkaline phosphatase anti‐alkaline phosphatase (APAAP) technique without preceding proteolytic digestion. The viral epitope recognized appears to be highly conserved, as speicmens were obtained over a 13‐year period from widely spaced locations in the U.K. Antibody R92F6 should facilitate rapid diagnosis of parvovirus B19 infection in routinely processed and archival specimens.