Background. Varicella-Zoster virus causes chickenpox upon primary infection and shingles after reactivation. Currently available serological tests to detect VZV-specific antibodies are exclusively based on antigens derived from VZV-infected cells. Results. We present a systematic approach for the identification of novel, serologically reactive VZV antigens. Therefore, all VZV open reading frames were cloned into a bacterial expression vector and checked for small scale recombinant protein expression. Serum profiling experiments using purified VZV proteins and clinically defined sera in a microarray revealed 5 putative antigens (ORFs 1, 4, 14, 49, and 68). These were rearranged in line format and validated with pre-characterized sera. Conclusions. The line assay confirmed the seroreactivity of the identified antigens and revealed its suitability for VZV serodiagnostics comparable to commercially available VZV-ELISA. Recombinant ORF68 (gE) proved to be an antigen for high-confidence determination of VZV serostatus. Furthermore, our data suggest that a serological differentiation between chickenpox and herpes zoster may be possible by analysis of the IgM-portfolio against individual viral antigens. Copyright © 2010 Vizoso Pinto et al.
CITATION STYLE
Vizoso Pinto, M. G., Pfrepper, K. I., Janke, T., Noelting, C., Sander, M., Lueking, A., … Baiker, A. (2010). A systematic approach for the identification of novel, serologically reactive recombinant Varicella-Zoster Virus (VZV) antigens. Virology Journal, 7. https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-422X-7-165
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.