Immunoblot analysis of the serological response in hantavirus infections

Abstract

Sera from patients with nephropathia epidemica (NE) or Korean hemorrhagic fever (KHF) were tested for specific antibody response to antigens of Hällnäs virus and Hantaan virus strain 76-118. A Vero E6 derived cell line persistently infected with Hällnäs virus strain B1, and Vero E6 cells freshly infected with Hantaan virus type strain 76-118 were used as antigens in the immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and the immunoblot. Blots were prepared from whole cell lysates. The convalescent-phase sera of NE patients tested in this study regularly revealed a marked reaction with a 52 kilodalton (Kd) protein of Hällnäs virus and a 50 Kd protein of Hantaan virus. A convalescent serum from a patient with Korean hemorrhagic fever and a rat antiserum against Hantaan virus could recognize the 50 Kd band of Hantaan virus but showed no apparent reactivity with the 52 Kd component of Hällnäs virus in the standard dilutions. Some sera could additionally identify minor bands in the 55 Kd and/or 67 Kd region of the blots. A one-way cross reactivity between Hantaan and Hällnäs viruses was also evident from the results of the immunofluorescence assays in that NE convalescent sera reacted with both viruses, whereas KHF convalescent or anti-Hantaan sera gave strongly positive results with Hantaan virus but only faint reaction with Hällnäs virus.

Expression of non-conserved regions of the S genome segments of three hantaviruses: evaluation of the expressed polypeptides for diagnosis of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome

“…The truncated NPs displayed more antigenic specificity than did the complete NPs when reacted with the same antisera. The truncated antigens could be used to differentiate anti-HTN and anti-SEO clearly from anti-PUU antibodies, without one-way cross-reactivity, as found in previous studies Sheshberadaran et al, 1988;Zoller et al, 1989;Gott et al, 1991). This result was expected, because the number of identical amino acids in the truncated compared to the complete NP was reduced from greater than 60 % to approximately 30%.…”

Hantaviruses: Molecular Biology, Evolution and Pathogenesis

“…The N protein is an excellent antigenic target, initiating a rapid and strong immune response at an early stage of infection [129,168]. Therefore, definition of the linear epitope determinants on this protein could provide a sensitive tool for diagnosis and investigation of hantavirus pathogenesis.…”

Human pathogenic hantaviruses and prevention of infection

“…After onset of the acute phase IgM as well as IgG antibodies can be detected that react with hantaviral N protein, which represents the major target antigen. [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] Antibodies against Gc and Gn appear later during the progress of disease. 36 It remains still enigmatic why hantaviral N protein is the dominant antigen.…”