Characterization of Mouse Monoclonal Antibodies Against the HA of A(H7N9) Influenza Virus

Many cases of human infection with the H7N9 virus have been detected in China since 2013. H7N9 viruses are maintained in chickens and are transmitted to humans at live bird markets. During circulation in birds, H7N9 viruses have accumulated amino acid substitutions in their hemagglutinin (HA), which resulted in an antigenically change in the recent H7N9 viruses. Here, we characterized 46 mouse monoclonal antibodies against the HA of the prototype strain. 16 H7-HA-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) possessed hemagglutination inhibition (HI) and neutralization activities by recognizing the major antigenic site A; four other H7-HA-specific clones also showed HI and neutralizing activities via recognition of the major antigenic sites A and D; seven mAbs that reacted with several HA subtypes and possibly recognized the HA stem partially protected mice from lethal infection with prototype H7N9 virus; and the remaining 19 mAbs had neither HI nor neutralization activity. All human H7N9 viruses tested showed a similar neutralization sensitivity to the first group of 16 mAbs, whereas human H7N9 viruses isolated in 2016⁻2017 were not neutralized by a second group of 4 mAbs. These results suggest that amino acid substitutions at the epitope of the second mAb group appear to be involved in the antigenic drift of the H7N9 viruses. Further analysis is required to fully understand the antigenic change in H7N9 viruses

Ultrasensitive detection of proteins and sugars at single-cell level

Each cell produces its own responses even if it appears identical to other cells. To analyze these individual cell characteristics, we need to measure trace amounts of molecules in a single cell. Nucleic acids in a single cell can be easily amplified by polymerase chain reaction, but single-cell measurement of proteins and sugars will require de novo techniques. In the present study, we outline the techniques we have developed toward this end. For proteins, our ultrasensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) coupled with thionicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide cycling can detect proteins at subattomoles per assay. For sugars, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy coupled with glucose oxidase-catalyzed reaction allows us to measure glucose at tens of nM. Our methods thus offer versatile techniques for single-cell-level analyses, and they are hoped to strongly promote single-cell biology as well as to develop noninvasive tests in clinical medicine

Detection of HIV-1 p24 at Attomole Level by Ultrasensitive ELISA with Thio-NAD Cycling.

To reduce the window period between HIV-1 infection and the ability to diagnose it, a fourth-generation immunoassay including the detection of HIV-1 p24 antigen has been developed. However, because the commercially available systems for this assay use special, high-cost instruments to measure, for example, chemiluminescence, it is performed only by diagnostics companies and hub hospitals. To overcome this limitation, we applied an ultrasensitive ELISA coupled with a thio-NAD cycling, which is based on a usual enzyme immunoassay without special instruments, to detect HIV-1 p24. The p24 detection limit by our ultrasensitive ELISA was 0.0065 IU/assay (i.e., ca. 10(-18) moles/assay). Because HIV-1 p24 antigen is thought to be present in the virion in much greater numbers than viral RNA copies, the value of 10(-18) moles of the p24/assay corresponds to ca. 10(3) copies of the HIV-1 RNA/assay. That is, our ultrasensitive ELISA is chasing the detection limit (10(2) copies/assay) obtained by PCR-based nucleic acid testing (NAT) with a margin of only one different order. Further, the detection limit by our ultrasensitive ELISA is less than that mandated for a CE-marked HIV antigen/antibody assay. An additional recovery test using blood supported the reliability of our ultrasensitive ELISA

Immunoreactive insulin in diabetes mellitus patient sera detected by ultrasensitive ELISA with thio-NAD cycling

To minimize patient suffering, the smallest possible volume of blood should be collected for diagnosis and disease monitoring. When estimating insulin secretion capacity and resistance to insulin in diabetes mellitus (DM), increasing insulin assay immunosensitivity would reduce the blood sample volume required for testing. Here we present an ultrasensitive ELISA coupled with thio-NAD cycling to measure immunoreactive insulin in blood serum. Only 5 µL of serum was required for testing, with a limit of detection (LOD) for the assay of 10−16 moles/assay. Additional recovery tests confirmed this method can detect insulin in sera. Comparisons between a commercially available immunoreactive insulin kit and our ultrasensitive ELISA using the same commercially available reference demonstrated good data correlation, providing further evidence of assay accuracy. Together, these results demonstrate our ultrasensitive ELISA could be a powerful tool in the diagnosis and treatment of not only DM but also many other diseases in the future

Linear calibration curves for HIV-1 p24 antigen obtained by an ultrasensitive ELISA coupled with a thio-NAD cycling.

<p>The absorbance of thio-NADH was measured at a cycling reaction of 90 min. Three data measured in different plates are presented as A, B and C. LOD is short for the limit of detection.</p