CVI
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Magurano, F.
Right arrow Articles by Nicoletti, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Magurano, F.
Right arrow Articles by Nicoletti, L.

Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, January 1999, p. 55-60, Vol. 6, No. 1
1071-412X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Humoral Response in Toscana Virus Acute Neurologic Disease Investigated by Viral-Protein-Specific Immunoassays

Fabio Magurano and Loredana Nicoletti*

Laboratorio di Virologia, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Received 15 May 1998/Returned for modification 21 August 1998/Accepted 28 September 1998

The Toscana virus (family Bunyaviridae, genus Phlebovirus) is the only sandfly-transmitted virus that demonstrates neurotropic activity. Clinical cases ranging from aseptic meningitis to meningoencephalitis caused by Toscana virus are yearly observed in central Italy during the summer, and several cases have been reported among tourists returning from zones of endemicity (Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Cyprus). In Toscana virus patients, immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies, usually present at the onset of symptoms, can reveal elevated titers by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and can persist for at least 1 year. IgG antibodies can be absent at the onset of symptoms: titers rise in convalescent sera and persist for many years. At least five proteins have been identified in Toscana virus-infected cells: nucleoprotein N, glycoproteins G1 and G2, a large protein (L) assumed to be a component of the polymerase, and two nonstructural proteins, NSm and NSs. We report results of a study on the antibody response to individual viral proteins in patients with Toscana virus-associated acute neurologic disease. Immunoblotting and semiquantitative radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIPA) allow identification of nucleoprotein N as the major antigen responsible for both IgM and IgG responses. Antibodies to proteins other than nucleoprotein N are detected only by RIPA. Antibodies to glycoproteins are detected in about one-third of patients, and whereas their presence always predicts neutralization, some serum samples with neutralizing activity have undetectable levels of antibodies to G1-G2. Antibodies to nonstructural proteins NSm and NSs are also identified. The results obtained raise some questions about antigenic variability and relevant neutralization epitopes of Toscana virus.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Arbovirus Unit, Laboratory of Virology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy. Phone: 39 06 49903242. Fax: 39 06 49902082. E-mail: nicolett{at}virus1.net.iss.it.


Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, January 1999, p. 55-60, Vol. 6, No. 1
1071-412X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:




Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. Infect. Immun.
J. Clin. Microbiol. J. Virol. ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 1999 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.