A high throughput reporter virus particle microneutralization assay for quantitation of Zika virus neutralizing antibodies in multiple species

• Published in: PloS one 2021-04, Vol.16 (4), p.e0250516-e0250516
• Main Authors: Bohning, Kelly, Sonnberg, Stephanie, Chen, Hui-Ling, Zahralban-Steele, Melissa, Powell, Timothy, Hather, Greg, Patel, Hetal K, Dean, Hansi J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Antibodies; Antibodies, Blocking - immunology; Antibodies, Neutralizing - immunology; Antibodies, Viral - immunology; Assaying; Biology and life sciences; Cell Line; Cell lines; Chlorocebus aethiops - virology; Confidence limits; Dengue Virus - isolation & purification; Dengue Virus - pathogenicity; Design of experiments; Dynamic range; Encephalitis; Flavivirus - isolation & purification; Flavivirus - pathogenicity; Genes, Reporter - genetics; Genes, Reporter - immunology; Guillain-Barre syndrome; High-Throughput Screening Assays; Humans; Infectivity; Laboratories; Macaca mulatta - immunology; Macaca mulatta - virology; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mice; Neutralization; Neutralization Tests; Neutralizing; Optimization; Parameters; Predictions; Quantitation; Reagents; Research and Analysis Methods; Vaccines; Vector-borne diseases; Vero cells; Vero Cells - virology; Virion - genetics; Virion - isolation & purification; Viruses; West Nile virus; Zika virus; Zika Virus - genetics; Zika Virus - isolation & purification; Zika Virus Infection - diagnosis; Zika Virus Infection - immunology; Zika Virus Infection - virology
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250516

Zika virus is a Flavivirus, transmitted via Aedes mosquitos, that causes a range of symptoms including Zika congenital syndrome. Zika has posed a challenging situation for health, public and economic sectors of affected countries. To quantitate Zika virus neutralizing antibody titers in serum samples, we developed a high throughput plate based Zika virus reporter virus particle (RVP) assay that uses an infective, non-replicating particle encoding Zika virus surface proteins and capsid (CprME) and a reporter gene (Renilla luciferase). This is the first characterization of a Zika virus RVP assay in 384-well format using a Dengue replicon Renilla reporter construct. Serially diluted test sera were incubated with RVPs, followed by incubation with Vero cells. RVPs that have not been neutralized by antibodies in the test sera entered the cells and expressed Renilla luciferase. Quantitative measurements of neutralizing activity were determined using a plate-based assay and commercially available substrate. The principle of limiting the infection to a single round increases the precision of the assay measurements. RVP log10EC50 titers correlated closely with titers determined using a plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) (R2>95%). The plate-based Zika virus RVP assay also demonstrated high levels of precision, reproducibility and throughput. The assay employs identical reagents for human, rhesus macaque and mouse serum matrices. Spiking studies indicated that the assay performs equally well in different species, producing comparable titers irrespective of the serum species. The assay is conducted in 384-well plates and can be automated to simultaneously achieve high throughput and high reproducibility.