Dergi makalesi Açık Erişim

Development of a novel recombinant ELISA for the detection of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus IgG antibodies

2021    Guelce-Iz, Sultan; Elaldi, Nazif; Can, Hueseyin; Sahar, Esra Atalay; Karakavuk, Muhammet; Gul, Aytul; Kumoglu, Gizem Ors; Doskaya, Aysu Degirmenci; Gueruez, Adnan Yueksel; Ozdarendeli, Aykut; Felgner, Philip Louis; Davies, Huw; Doskaya, Mert

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a tick-borne viral infection caused by Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV). Serological screening of CCHF is important and current ELISA use antigens prepared from virus which is expensive due to requirement of high bio-containment facilities. In this study, we aimed to develop a new recombinant ELISA. For this purpose, CCHFV genome were expressed as 13 proteins in E. coli and among them abundantly purified recombinant Nucleocapsid protein (rNP) and Mucin-like variable domain (rMLD) were used as antigen in ELISA (Rec-ELISA). Rec-ELISA using rNP, rMLD and a combination of both (rNP/rMLD) were probed with acute (n=64; collected between days 1 and 7 after onset of symptoms), convalescent (n=35; collected 8 days after onset of symptoms), consecutive sera (n=25) of confirmed CCHF cases and control sera (n=43). The sensitivity and specificity of Rec-ELISA using rNP/rMLD were 73% and 98% in acute cases and 97% and 98% in convalescent cases. The median interquartile absorbance value to discriminate the acute and convalescent phases of CCHF was significantly higher with ELISA using rNP/rMLD (P<0.0001) compared to rNP (P>0.05) and rMLD (P=0.001). These results indicate that the Rec-ELISA using rNP/rMLD may be very useful to diagnose convalescent CCHF cases especially in field studies.