Development of rapid neutralization assays and a primary transcription assay for human metapneumovirus

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25460563
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Virology
• Research Institution: Shiga University of Medical Science
• Principal Investigator: Gotoh Bin 滋賀医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (00211920)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KITAGAWA Yoshinori 滋賀医科大学, 医学部, 助教 (00444448)
• Research Collaborator: YAMAGUCHI Mayu 滋賀医科大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 博士課程・学生 ; ZHOU Min 滋賀医科大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 博士課程・学生 ; ITOH Masae 長浜バイオ大学, バイオサイエンス学部, 教授 (10201328)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: ヒトメタニューモウイルス / 中和抗体価測定法 / 組換えウイルス / ルシフェラーゼ / 緑色蛍光色素 / 一次転写 / 迅速 / 簡便

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is an important cause of lower respiratory tract infections in young children. Because of its slow replication and weak cytopathic effect in cultured cells, conventional neutralization assays for HMPV require about one week for completion. In this study we established a rapid neutralization assay based on a recombinant virus expressing highly sensitive luciferase genes. This assay could be completed within 12 h and eliminated the requirement of trypsin supporting multistep replication in cultured cells, as well as laborious processes including the plaque assay with immunostaining. Thus we succeeded in establishing the novel neutralization assay for HMPV, which is the fastest and the most straightforward of all previous assays and may be available for high throughput screening of neutralizing antibodies.

Free Research Field

ウイルス学