The first imported case of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in China recently occurred, allowing for the characterization of antibody titers in a series of the patient’s sera using the following methods based on recombinant viral structural antigens: inactivated MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), recombinant MERS-CoV spike (S, or fragments of S) ELISA, nucleoprotein (NP) ELISA and MERS S pseudovirus particle-based neutralization test (ppNT). A longitudinal profile of the infection showed that seroconversion detected by ELISAs based on the recombinant extracellular domain, S, S1 and receptor-binding domain (RBD) antigens occurred as early as neutralizing antibodies were detected by the ppNT and earlier than antibodies were detected by the inactivated MERS-CoV and N-terminal domain (NTD) ELISAs. Antibodies detected by the NP ELISA occurred last. Strong correlations were found between the S1, RBD and NP ELISAs and the inactivated MERS-CoV ELISA. The S and RBD ELISAs were highly correlated with the commercial S1 ELISA. The S ELISA strongly correlated with the ppNT, although the MERS-CoV, S1, NTD and RBD ELISAs were also significantly correlated with the ppNT ( P <0.001).
【저자키워드】 antibody, MERS-CoV, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Patient, recombinant structural antigens, 【초록키워드】 neutralizing antibody, neutralization, Infection, MERS, ELISA, Antigen, China, Seroconversion, pseudovirus, RBD, sera, Antibody titer, NTD, correlation, ELISAs, inactivated, N-terminal domain, Middle East, MERS coronavirus, domain, syndrome, RBD ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent, Extracellular, occurred, significantly, the patient, correlated, Strong, 【제목키워드】 Antigen, China, characterization,