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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, February 2005, p. 249-253, Vol. 12, No. 2
1071-412X/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/CDLI.12.2.249-253.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Development and Validation of an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay for Human Metapneumovirus Serology Based on a Recombinant Viral Protein

Research Center in Infectious Diseases of the "Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec" and Laval University, Québec City, Canada

Received 22 July 2004/ Accepted 22 November 2004

The human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a newly reported respiratory virus belonging to the Paramyxoviridae family that has been associated with bronchiolitis and pneumonia in young children. We developed a simple enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for hMPV serological testing using the nucleoprotein (N) from group A or B (N-A or N-B) as the antigen, and we evaluated it in both children and adults. The N proteins were first used in a Western immunoblot assay to identify hMPV-negative sera, which were then used to determine the cutoff value of the ELISA test. Subsequent evaluation of the ELISA-N test revealed that the mean reciprocal antibody titer of 20 randomly selected seropositive children was 143, compared to 69 for 20 seropositive adults. In a prospective evaluation of 71 adults with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 58 (81.6%) had prior hMPV antibodies and 3 (4.2%) had evidence of recent hMPV infection. In testing paired sera from adults (n = 4) with recent hMPV group A infection confirmed by reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR), ELISAs using the N-A or N-B proteins were able to detect hMPV seroconversion. Moreover, testing of paired sera from three adults with a recent infection by the human respiratory syncytial virus confirmed by RT-PCR and serology did not reveal any increase in hMPV antibodies over time. The ELISA-N is a simple, objective, and specific serological test useful for detecting anti-hMPV antibodies following group A or B viral infections, which should permit a better understanding of the epidemiology of this virus.