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Updated: Sep 14, 2025
Measuring Influenza Neutralizing Antibody Responses to AH3N2 Viruses in Human Sera by Microneutralization Assays Using MDCK-SIAT1 Cells
Published on: November 22, 2017
Detecting rubella virus-specific antibodies by cytopathic effect and immunoenzymatic microneutralization tests
Iris Medits-Weiss1, Heidemarie Holzmann1, Lukas Weseslindtner1
1Center for Virology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
Background:
Rubella in early pregnancy can cause severe congenital malformations, but can be prevented by vaccination. Immunity to rubella is usually assessed by the detection of rubella virus-specific antibodies. Neutralization tests (NTs) are of highest diagnostic significance, because they measure the effectiveness of antibodies to block viral infection.
Objectives:
The ability of rubella virus to cause a cytopathic effect (CPE) is limited. Therefore, most NT formats are based on immunoenzymatic techniques detecting viral proteins in infected cells. As Vero cells have been described to be susceptible to rubella virus infection with a more pronounced CPE, we aimed to develop an NT with these cells.
Methods:
We compared rubella NTs with different infectivity readout methods (immunoenzymatic vs. CPE) using 42 human polyclonal samples with a known IgG ELISA concentration (IU/ml).
Results:
We found a strong positive correlation between rubella virus-specific ELISA IgG units and neutralization titers determined with the two different NTs as well as between the two NT formats.
Conclusion:
NT titer determination using CPE as a readout for infectivity is a reliable and promising method for rubella serology.
