Recombinant Envelope-Proteins with Mutations in the Conserved Fusion Loop Allow Specific Serological Diagnosis of Dengue-Infections.

Recombinant Envelope-Proteins with Mutations in the Conserved Fusion Loop Allow Specific Serological Diagnosis of Dengue-Infections.

Blog Article

Dengue virus (DENV) is a Reclaimers mosquito-borne flavivirus and a major international public health concern in many tropical and sub-tropical areas worldwide.DENV is divided into four major serotypes, and infection with one serotype leads to immunity against the same, but not the other serotypes.The specific diagnosis of DENV-infections via antibody-detection is problematic due to the high degree of cross-reactivity displayed by antibodies against related flaviviruses, such as West Nile virus (WNV), Yellow Fever virus (YFV) or Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV).Especially in areas where several flaviviruses co-circulate or in the context of vaccination e.

g.against YFV or TBEV, this severely complicates diagnosis and surveillance.Most flavivirus cross-reactive antibodies are produced against the highly conserved fusion loop (FL) domain in the viral envelope (E) protein.We generated insect-cell derived recombinant E-proteins of the childrens backpacks four DENV-serotypes which contain point mutations in the FL domain.

By using specific mixtures of these mutant antigens, cross-reactivity against heterologous flaviviruses was strongly reduced, enabling sensitive and specific diagnosis of the DENV-infected serum samples in IgG and IgM-measurements.These results have indications for the development of serological DENV-tests with improved specificity.