Measurement of antibodies to varicella-zoster virus using a virus-free fluorescent-antibody-to-membrane-antigen (FAMA) test

• Published in: Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 268 - 273
• Main Authors: Park, Rackhyun, Hwang, Ji Young, Lee, Kang Il, Namkoong, Sim, Choi, Seuk-Keun, Park, Songyong, Park, Hosun, Park, Junsoo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) 한국미생물·생명공학회 01.02.2015
• Subjects: Antibodies - blood; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Fluorescent Antibody Technique - methods; HEK293 Cells; Herpesvirus 3, Human - genetics; Herpesvirus 3, Human - immunology; Humans; Viral Envelope Proteins - genetics; 생물학
• ISSN: 1017-7825; 1738-8872
• DOI: 10.4014/jmb.1408.08048

The fluorescent-antibody-to-membrane-antigen (FAMA) test is regarded as the "gold standard" to detect protective antibodies to varicella-zoster virus (VZV) because of its high sensitivity and specificity. Because the classic FAMA test uses an infectious virus for detection of antibodies to VZV, it is labor-intensive, and also requires special equipment for handling the virus. For this reason, we attempted to develop a simple and safe FAMA assay. Because VZV glycoprotein E (gE) is one of the major VZV glycoproteins, we used the gE protein for the FAMA test (gE FAMA). Here, we demonstrate that overexpression of gE in HEK293T cells can be used to measure antibodies in human serum, and that gE FAMA titers are closely correlated with gpEIA ELISA data. These results indicate that our gE FAMA test has the potential to measure antibodies to VZV.