Antibody response of patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) targets the viral nucleocapsid |
| |
Authors: | Leung Danny Tze Ming Tam Frankie Chi Hang Ma Chun Hung Chan Paul Kay Sheung Cheung Jo Lai Ken Niu Haitao Tam John Siu Lun Lim Pak Leong |
| |
Institution: | Clinical Immunology Unit, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, HKSAR, China. |
| |
Abstract: | The recent outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) provided an opportunity to study the antibody response of infected individuals to the causative virus, SARS coronavirus. We examined serum samples obtained from 46 patients with SARS, 40 patients with non-SARS pneumonia, and 38 healthy individuals, by use of Western blotting (WB), enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA), and immunofluorescence assay, using both native and bacterially produced antigens of the virus. We found a highly restricted, immunoglobulin G-dominated antibody response in patients with SARS, directed most frequently (89% by ELISA) and predominantly at the nucleocapsid. Almost all of the subjects without SARS had no antinucleocapsid antibodies. The spike protein was the next most frequently targeted, but only 63% of the patients (by ELISA) responded. Other targets of the response identified by use of WB included antigens of 80 and 60 kDa. Several nonstructural proteins cloned were not antigenic, and the culture-derived nucleocapsid appeared to be specifically degraded. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 PubMed 等数据库收录! |
|