Differentiation of West Nile and St. Louis encephalitis virus infections by use of noninfectious virus-like particles with reduced cross-reactivity.

ABSTRACT: Differential diagnosis of St. Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV) and West Nile virus (WNV) infections can be complicated due to the high degree of cross-reactivity observed in most serodiagnostic assays. In an effort to provide a more specific diagnostic test, we developed virus-like particle (VLP) antigens with reduced cross-reactivity for both SLEV and WNV by identifying and mutating envelope protein amino acids within the cross-reactive epitopes of VLP expression plasmids. To determine the serodiagnostic discriminatory ability of the antigens with reduced cross-reactivity, a panel of 134 human serum samples collected predominately from North American patients with SLEV or WNV infections was used to evaluate the performance of these novel antigens in imunoglobulin M antibody-capture enzyme-

SUBMITTER: Roberson JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2045342 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature