Low Risk of Serological Cross-Reactivity between the Dengue Virus and SARS-CoV-2-IgG Antibodies Using Advanced Detection Assays

Farah M Shurrab; Duaa W Al-Sadeq; Fatima Humaira Amanullah; Enas S Al-Absi; Hamda Qotba; Hadi M Yassine; Laith J Abu-Raddad; Gheyath K Nasrallah

doi:10.1159/000522479

Low Risk of Serological Cross-Reactivity between the Dengue Virus and SARS-CoV-2-IgG Antibodies Using Advanced Detection Assays

Intervirology. 2022;65(4):224-229. doi: 10.1159/000522479. Epub 2022 Feb 8.

Authors

Farah M Shurrab¹, Duaa W Al-Sadeq^{1

2}, Fatima Humaira Amanullah¹, Enas S Al-Absi¹, Hamda Qotba³, Hadi M Yassine^{1

4}, Laith J Abu-Raddad^{5

6

7}, Gheyath K Nasrallah^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Biomedical Research Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
² College of Medicine, Member of QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
³ Department of Clinical Research, Primary Health Care Centers, Doha, Qatar.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, Member of QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
⁵ Infectious Disease Epidemiology Group, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Cornell University, Qatar Foundation - Education City, Doha, Qatar.
⁶ World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Disease Epidemiology Analytics on HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Viral Hepatitis, Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar, Cornell University, Qatar Foundation - Education City, Doha, Qatar.
⁷ Department of Healthcare Policy and Research, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, New York, USA.

Abstract

Several studies have reported serological cross-reactivity of the immune responses between SARS-CoV-2 and DENV. Most of the available studies are based on the point-of-care rapid testing kits. However, some rapid test kits have low specificity and can generate false positives. Hence, we aimed to investigate the potential serological cross-reactivity between SARS-CoV-2 and DENV-IgG antibodies using advanced assays including chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test. A total of 90 DENV-IgG-ELISA-positive and 90 DENV-IgG-ELISA-negative prepandemic sera were tested for anti-SARS-CoV-2-IgG using the automated CL-900i CLIA assay. Furthermore, a total of 91 SARS-CoV-2-IgG-CLIA-positive and 91 SARS-CoV-2-IgG-CLIA-negative postpandemic sera were tested for anti-DENV-IgG using the NovaLisa ELISA kit. The DENV-IgG-positive sera resulted in five positives and 85 negatives for SARS-CoV-2-IgG. Similarly, the DENV-IgG-negative sera also resulted in 5 positives and 85 negatives for SARS-CoV-2-IgG. No statistically significant difference in specificity between the DENV-IgG-positive and DENV-IgG-negative sera was found (p value = 1.00). The SARS-CoV-2-IgG-positive sera displayed 43 positives, 47 negatives, and 1 equivocal for DENV-IgG, whereas the SARS-CoV-2-IgG-negative sera resulted in 50 positives, 40 negatives, and 1 equivocal for DENV-IgG. No statistically significant difference in the proportion that is DENV-IgG positive between the SARS-CoV-2-IgG-positive and SARS-CoV-2-IgG-negative sera (p value = 0.58). In conclusion, there is a low risk of serological cross-reactivity between the DENV and SARS-CoV-2-IgG antibodies when using advanced detection assays.

Keywords: Chemiluminescence immunoassay; Cross-reaction; Dengue; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

Publication types

News

MeSH terms

Antibodies, Viral
COVID-19* / diagnosis
Dengue Virus*
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / methods
Humans
Immunoglobulin G
SARS-CoV-2
Sensitivity and Specificity

Substances

Antibodies, Viral
Immunoglobulin G

Grants and funding

L.J.A. acknowledges the support of the Biomedical Research Program and the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Biomathematics Research Core, both at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar. This work was made possible by Grant Nos. RRC-2-032 and UREP19-013-3-001 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors. In addition, G.K.N. would also like to acknowledge funds from Qatar University's internal Grant QUERG-CMED-2020-2.