Application of Concanavalin A-Linked Magnetic Beads for the Detection of Hepatitis A Virus

Prompt and inexpensive detection of hepatitis A virus (HAV) is essential to control acute hepatitis outbreaks associated with the consumption of contaminated raw or minimally processed food. In this study, various carbohydrate-binding lectins, including concanavalin A (Con A), wheat germ agglutinin, and soybean agglutinin, were compared for their binding affinity to HAV. Con A, which showed significantly higher binding affinity than other lectins, was used to develop an alternative and affordable method to conventional antibody-linked immunomagnetic separation prior to detection of HAV using reverse transcriptase PCR. This method, Con A-linked immunomagnetic separation combined with reverse transcriptase PCR, can detect HAV at a dilution concentration of 10^-4 of the virus stock (titer: 10⁴ median tissue culture infective dose per mL), indicating that Con A could be a promising candidate for concentrating HAV.