A rapid membrane based immunobinding assay for the detection of dengue virus in tissue culture

A rapid, simple dot immunoassay (DOTIA) was developed and evaluated for the detection of dengue-1 viral antigen in infected Aedes albopictus C6/36 cells. Dengue virus infected cells were solubilize in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and the lysate was pressure filtered through a hydrophobic polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane. Viral antigen retained in the membrane was detected by a dengue-1 type specific monoclonal antibody and a peroxidase-labeled second antibody. Addition of tetramethylbenzidene (TMB) substrate produced a blue-colored precipitate which allowed for quantitation of viral antigen using a portable white light reflectance densitometer. Estimate of viral infectivity in the cell lysates tested by the DOTIA was determined by standard plaque assays and the results indicated an excellent correlation between these two methods. The dot immunoassay detected dengue viral antigen in infected C6/36 cells between days three and eight post-inoculation, depending on the titer of the inoculum. An infectivity titer of at least 10(3) plaque forming units (PFU) per ml was required to detect antigen by the DOTIA. The DOTIA also detected viral antigen in cells inoculated with twelve acute sera from known dengue-1 virus infected patients, thus demonstrating that this technique is useful for the detection and identification of dengue-1 virus from clinical specimens.