Rapid identification of dengue virus isolates by using monoclonal antibodies in an indirect immunofluorescence assay

Type-specific monoclonal antibodies prepared against the four dengue (DEN) virus serotypes were evaluated for their ability to identify low-passage human and mosquito isolates from Jamaica and West Africa by an indirect immunofluorescence assay. Serotyped human isolates from Jamaican dengue fever patients included 12 DEN-1, two DEN-2, and five DEN-4 viruses. Viruses from West Africa included 84 DEN-2 mosquito strains as well as two DEN-1 and one DEN-2 from humans. Results obtained using the immunofluorescence assay were consistent with virus identifications obtained using the more classical but costly and time-consuming plaque-reduction neutralization test. More viral isolates and higher virus yields were obtained using the C6/36 clone of Aedes albopictus cells rather than LLC-MK2 (monkey kidney) cells. Dengue type-specific monoclonal antibodies detected prototype viral antigens 24-48 hours postinfection in C6/36 cells. This is the first time that monoclonal antibodies have been used to serotype low-passage flavivirus isolates.