Comparison of Anti-Dengue and Anti-Zika IgG on a Plasmonic Gold Platform with Neutralization Testing

Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2021 Mar 29;104(5):1729-1733. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.20-1449.

Abstract

Antibody cross-reactivity confounds testing for dengue virus (DENV) and Zika virus (ZIKV). We evaluated anti-DENV and anti-ZIKV IgG detection using a multiplex serological platform (the pGOLD assay, Nirmidas, Palo Alto, CA) in patients from the Asunción metropolitan area in Paraguay, which experiences annual DENV outbreaks but has reported few autochthonous ZIKV infections. Acute-phase sera were tested from 77 patients who presented with a suspected arboviral illness from January to May 2018. Samples were tested for DENV and ZIKV RNA by real-time reverse transcription-PCR, and for DENV nonstructural protein 1 with a lateral-flow immunochromatographic test. Forty-one patients (51.2%) had acute dengue; no acute ZIKV infections were detected. Sixty-five patients (84.4%) had anti-DENV-neutralizing antibodies by focus reduction neutralization testing (FRNT50). Qualitative detection with the pGOLD assay demonstrated good agreement with FRNT50 (kappa = 0.74), and quantitative results were highly correlated between methods (P < 0.001). Only three patients had anti-ZIKV-neutralizing antibodies at titers of 1:55-1:80, and all three had corresponding DENV-neutralizing titers > 1:4,000. Hospitalized dengue cases had significantly higher anti-DENV IgG levels (P < 0.001). Anti-DENV IgG results from the pGOLD assay correlate well with FRNT, and quantitative results may inform patient risk stratification.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Antibodies, Neutralizing / blood*
  • Antibodies, Viral / blood*
  • Cross Reactions
  • Dengue / diagnosis
  • Dengue / epidemiology*
  • Dengue / immunology
  • Dengue / virology
  • Dengue Virus / genetics
  • Dengue Virus / immunology*
  • Disease Outbreaks*
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immune Sera / chemistry
  • Immunoglobulin G / blood
  • Immunoglobulin M / blood
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neutralization Tests
  • Paraguay / epidemiology
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Viral Nonstructural Proteins / chemistry
  • Viral Nonstructural Proteins / immunology
  • Zika Virus / genetics
  • Zika Virus / immunology*
  • Zika Virus Infection / diagnosis
  • Zika Virus Infection / epidemiology*
  • Zika Virus Infection / immunology
  • Zika Virus Infection / virology

Substances

  • Antibodies, Neutralizing
  • Antibodies, Viral
  • Immune Sera
  • Immunoglobulin G
  • Immunoglobulin M
  • NS1 protein, Dengue virus type 2
  • Viral Nonstructural Proteins