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Human noroviruses (NoV) are the leading cause of human gastroenteritis in populations of all ages and are linked to most of the foodborne outbreaks worldwide. Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is another important foodborne enteric virus and is considered the most common agent causing acute liver disease worldwide. In the present study, a focused, low-density DNA microarray was developed and validated for the simultaneous identification of foodborne-associated genotypes of NoV and HAV. By employing a novel algorithm, capture probes were designed to target variable genomic regions commonly used for typing these foodborne viruses. Validation results showed that probe signals, specific for the tested NoV or HAV genotypes, were on average 200-times or 38-times higher than those detected for non-targeted genotypes, respectively. To improve the analytical sensitivity of this method, a 12-mer oligonucleotide spacer sequence was added to the capture probes and resulted in a detection threshold of less than 10 cRNA transcripts. These findings have indicated that this array-based typing sensor has the accuracy and sensitivity for identifying NoV and HAV genotypic profiles predominantly linked to food poisoning. The implementation of this typing sensor would thus provide highly relevant and valuable information for use in surveillance and outbreak attribution.

Complement (C) activation-related hypersensitivity reactions (HSRs) represent an unsolved adverse immune effect of many i.v. administered "nanomedicines", such as liposomal doxorubicin (Doxil/Caelyx). Because these pseudoallergic reactions can be severe or even lethal, it is an important clinical objective to find biomarkers for proneness for C activation by reactogenic nanoparticles that will allow the prediction of in vivo reactions by in vitro assays. With this goal in mind we identified a normal human blood donor whose serum consistently showed high sensitivity to Caelyx-induced C activation in vitro (CSS). The plasma of this blood (Caelyx-sensitive plasma, CSP) was subjected to proteome profiling with a library of human plasma proteome specific mAbs. The chip (PlasmaScan-380 TM) contained 380 non-redundant (with respect to epitopes) mAbs. The analysis revealed 8 proteins that were differentially represented in CSP in comparison with Caelyx-insensitive control plasma. These proteins were identified by mass spectrometry and Western blot analyses to represent factor H (decreased in CSP), factor H related protein, serum amyloid P component, fibronectin, complement component C4, Apo B100, prothrombin and alpha-2-HS glycoprotein (all increased in CSP). Some of these protein changes are consistent with proneness for increased C activation, suggesting the potential use of this method in the search for biomarkers for liposome-induced or other types of nanomedicine-induced HSRs.

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