| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,710,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥510,000)
Fiscal Year 2007: ¥2,210,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥510,000)
Fiscal Year 2006: ¥1,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000)
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| Research Abstract |
Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) belongs to Family Arenaviridae Genus Arenavirus. Some species of rodent are the host of LCMV. Humans are usually infected with this virus through an inhalation of secreted fluid materials such as urine contaminated with this virus. It has been reported that LCMV causes aseptic meningitis. Congenital infection cases of fetus with LCMV through vertical infection, mother-to-fetus infection, are increasing in the United State and other countries. Furthermore, three episodes of organ transplantation associated LCMV infection were reported in the USA and Australia. Most of the organ recipients, who were infected with LCMV through LCMV-contaminated organ-transplantation, died of severe and generalized infection. These evidences indicate that LCMV is one of the important virus pathogen for humans. Animal facility in one scientific institute in Japan was contaminated with LCMV through import of mice infected from LCMV from France. However, there are not
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any reported cases of LCMV infections in Japan. The entire picture of LCMV infections in Japan should be clarified.
The LCMV-IgG antibody detection system as a form of ELISA using a recombinant nucleocapsid protein (LCMV-rNP) as an antigen was developed. Nine hundred sixty serum samples collected from Japanese subjects with a variety of age distribution and residing locations in Japan were tested for LCMV-IgG antibody with the developed IgG-ETISA. Fourteen samples (1.5%) showed a positive reaction in the ELISA and subjected to indirect immunofluorescent and neutralizing antibody assays. None of them showed a positive reaction in the assays, indicating that all the samples were negative. Serum samples collected from patients with Lassa fever, a viral hemorrhagic fever caused by Lassa virus, or with Argentine hemorrhagic fever, a viral hemorrhagic fever caused by Junin virus, did not show strong reactions in the ELISA with LCMV-rNP antigen, while rabbit serum raised against Lassa virus-nucleocapsid protein cross-reacted and rabbit serum raised against Junin virus-nucleocapsid protein weakly cross-reacted in the LCMV-rNP-ELISA.
Monoclonal antibodies to LCMV-rNP (Clones 24-1-E10-42, 24-1-E10-71, 24-2-E3-30, 24-2-E3-31, 25-2-E5-25, and 25-2-E5-27) were produced with the standard method by immunizing mice with the LCMV-rNP. These monoclonal antibodies to the LCMV-rNP reacted with authentic nucleocapsid protein of LCMV in indirect immunofluorescent and Western blotting assays. Some monoclonal antibodies to LCMV-rNP were confirmed to be efficacious in detecting LCMV antigens as a format of antigen-capture ELISA and immunohistological assays.
The present study indicates that LCMV is not a common etiological agent for human infections in Japan. Although LCMV infections are rare in Japan, the number of LCMV infection cases is increasing outside Japan. Laboratory-associated infections of arenavirus have been reported. The developed diagnostics with LCMV-rNP offers a great advantage in the diagnosis of and epidemiological study on LCMV infections over those with infectious LCMV. Less
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