| Autor: |
Erasmus JH; Institute for Translational Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America; Center for Tropical Diseases, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America., Needham J; InBios International, Inc., Seattle, Washington, United States of America., Raychaudhuri S; InBios International, Inc., Seattle, Washington, United States of America., Diamond MS; Departments of Medicine, Molecular Microbiology, Pathology & Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America., Beasley DW; Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America; Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, and Sealy Center for Vaccine Development, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America., Morkowski S; InBios International, Inc., Seattle, Washington, United States of America., Salje H; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America; Pasteur Institute, Paris, France., Fernandez Salas I; Centro Regional de Investigación en Salud Publica INSP. Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico., Kim DY; Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America., Frolov I; Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America., Nasar F; Institute for Translational Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America; Center for Tropical Diseases, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America; Virology Division, United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Frederick, Maryland, United States of America., Weaver SC; Institute for Translational Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America; Center for Tropical Diseases, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America; Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America. |
| Abstrakt: |
In December of 2013, chikungunya virus (CHIKV), an alphavirus in the family Togaviridae, was introduced to the island of Saint Martin in the Caribbean, resulting in the first autochthonous cases reported in the Americas. As of January 2015, local and imported CHIKV has been reported in 50 American countries with over 1.1 million suspected cases. CHIKV causes a severe arthralgic disease for which there are no approved vaccines or therapeutics. Furthermore, the lack of a commercially available, sensitive, and affordable diagnostic assay limits surveillance and control efforts. To address this issue, we utilized an insect-specific alphavirus, Eilat virus (EILV), to develop a diagnostic antigen that does not require biosafety containment facilities to produce. We demonstrated that EILV/CHIKV replicates to high titers in insect cells and can be applied directly in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays without inactivation, resulting in highly sensitive detection of recent and past CHIKV infection, and outperforming traditional antigen preparations. |
