Zika Virus Antibody Titers Three Years after Confirmed Infection

Abstract

Background: In 2015–2016, a large Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak occurred in the Americas. Although the exact ZIKV antibody kinetics after infection are unknown, recent evidence indicates the rapid waning of ZIKV antibodies in humans. Therefore, we aimed to determine the levels of ZIKV antibodies more than three years after a ZIKV infection. Methods: We performed ZIKV virus neutralization tests (VNT) and a commercial ZIKV non-structural protein 1 (NS1) IgG ELISA in a cohort of 49 participants from Suriname who had a polymerase-chain-reaction-confirmed ZIKV infection more than three years ago. Furthermore, we determined the presence of antibodies against multiple dengue virus (DENV) antigens. Results: The ZIKV seroprevalence in this cohort, assessed with ZIKV VNT and ZIKV NS1 IgG ELISA, was 59.2% and 63.3%, respectively. There was, however, no correlation between these two tests. Furthermore, we did not find evidence of a potential negative influence of DENV immunity on ZIKV antibody titers. Conclusions: ZIKV seroprevalence, assessed with two commonly used serological tests, was lower than expected in this cohort of participants who had a confirmed previous ZIKV infection. This can have implications for future ZIKV seroprevalence studies and possibly for the duration of immunological protection after a ZIKV infection.

Cross-Reactive Immunity among Five Medically Important Mosquito-Borne Flaviviruses Related to Human Diseases

“…Incidentally, the same unexpected phenomenon was also seen in the inhibitor ELISA test of DENV cross-reactive antibodies between populations with primary ZIKV infection and populations with sequential infection of DENV-ZIKV [35]. Langerak, et al collected sera of a population that confirmed ZIKV infection 3 years ago and revealed that ZIKV-immune sera failed to cross-neutralize DENV [36]. Instead, ZIKV-immune mouse sera induced ADE of DENV in THP-1 cells [34].…”

Transplacental Zika virus transmission in ex vivo perfused human placentas

“…This pooled serum reached a peak ADE titer at 1:200 dilution. DENV-2 nAb titers were determined in these sera as described before and were >1:100 for all sera, see S2 Table [ 23 ]. Two sera in which no antibodies against all clinically relevant flaviviruses (among others ZIKV, DENV, yellow-fever virus, West Nile virus, tick-borne encephalitis virus and Japanese encephalitis virus) were detected with a protein microarray, were used as a negative control [ 24 ].…”

Primary infection with Zika virus provides one-way heterologous protection against Spondweni virus infection in rhesus macaques

“…Importantly, we only assessed cross-protection at a single time point, 12-13 weeks after primary infection, therefore the durability of cross-reactive immunity to SPONV remains uncertain. It is possible that waning of cross-reactive nAb responses occurs more rapidly than homotypic ZIKV immunity so it is unclear how long pre-existing ZIKV immunity will provide robust protection against SPONV ( 42, 43 ).…”