Capture of infectious borna disease virus using anionic polymer-coated magnetic beads

Borna disease virus (BDV) is a noncytolytic, neurotrophic virus that infects a range of vertebrates, including all warm-blooded animals and possibly humans. Although BDV infections are thought to cause neurological disorders, evidence of the presence of the virus in tissues or blood of psychiatric patients is limited, possibly due to the low sensitivity of detection methods. Here, a simple method for capturing BDV has been developed using magnetic beads coated with an anionic polymer, poly(methyl vinyl ether-maleic anhydrate). The beads were incubated with lysate from BDV-infected cells, then separated from the supernatant by applying a magnet field and washed. The adsorption of BDV by the beads was confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting, which indicated the presence of the phosphoprotein (P), nucleoprotein (N), and viral genome of BDV on the incubated beads. This method of capture may contribute to the improved detection of BDV.