Longitudinally Profiling Neutralizing Antibody Response to SARS Coronavirus with Pseudotypes
SARS virus, Neutralization tests, infectious diseases, Emerging, vaccines, research
The severe acute respiratory syndrome–associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) spike protein (S) is a major target for neutralizing antibodies. Retroviral SARS-CoV S pseudotypes have been constructed and used to develop an in vitro microneutralization assay that is both sensitive and specific for SARS-CoV neutralizing antibodies. Neutralization titers measured by this assay are highly correlated to those measured by an assay using replication-competent SARS-CoV. No cross-neutralization occurred with human sera known to contain antibodies to coronavirus strains OC43 and 229E. The pseudotype assay was used to profile neutralizing antibody responses against SARS-CoV S in sequential serum samples taken from 41 confirmed SARS patients during the 2003 outbreak in Hong Kong and shows long-lasting immunity in most recovered patients. The pseudotype assay does not require handling live SARS virus; it is a useful tool to determine neutralizing titers during natural infection and the preclinical evaluation of candidate vaccines.
Nigel J. Temperton, Paul K. Chan, Graham Simmons, Maria C. Zambon, Richard S. Tedder, Yasuhiro Takeuchi, Robin A. Weiss
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Infectious and parasitic diseases, Medicine