Developing Novel Serological Tests to Distinguish Flaviviral Infections.

Abstract

Our study developed serological tests to distinguish dengue (DENV) and Zika (ZIKV) virus infections. We expressed the precursor peptide of DENV1, yellow fever virus, West Nile virus (WNV), and ZIKV using two expression systems. Using the pr protein of DENV1, we were able to distinguish DENV and ZIKV infections with high specificity and sensitivity. Furthermore, we improved upon our previous work that a combination of three enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) based on non-structural protein 1 (NS1) can distinguish DENV and ZIKV infections by replacing the DENV1-NS1 ELISA with a pooled DENV1-4-NS1 ELISA. This increased the overall sensitivity and specificity of our assays. Lastly, we developed a WNV-NS1 ELISA that can be used in combination with DENV- and ZIKV-NS1 ELISAs to distinguish secondary flaviviral infections. With the current limitations of serodiagnosis of DENV and ZIKV due to cross-reactivity, our findings provide a promising addition to the existing CDC recommendations.