Data from: Screening test for neutralizing antibodies against yellow fever virus, based on a flavivirus pseudotype

Given the possibility of yellow fever virus reintroduction in epidemiologically receptive geographic areas, the risk of vaccine supply disruption is a serious issue. New strategies to reduce the doses of injected vaccines should be evaluated very carefully in terms of immunogenicity. The plaque reduction test for the determination of neutralizing antibodies (PRNT) is particularly time-consuming and requires the use of a confinement laboratory. We have developed a new test based on the use of a non-infectious pseudovirus (WN/YF17D). The presence of a reporter gene allows sensitive determination of neutralizing antibodies by flow cytometry. This WN/YF17D test was as sensitive as PRNT for the follow-up of yellow fever vaccinees. Both tests lacked specificity with sera from patients hospitalized for acute Dengue virus infection. Conversely, both assays were strictly negative in adults never exposed to flavivirus infection or vaccination, and in patients sampled some time after acute Dengue infection. This WN/YF17D test will be particularly useful for large epidemiological studies and for screening for neutralizing antibodies against yellow fever virus.鉴于黄热病毒有可能重新传入具备流行病学易感性的地理区域，疫苗供应中断的风险已成为一项亟需重视的严峻问题。旨在减少注射疫苗剂量的新型免疫策略，需就其免疫原性开展严谨评估。用于中和抗体检测的空斑减少中和试验（plaque reduction neutralization test，PRNT）不仅耗时冗长，且需依托生物安全密闭实验室开展。本研究开发了一种基于非感染性假病毒（WN/YF17D）的新型检测方法，该方法借助报告基因的表达，可通过流式细胞术实现中和抗体的高灵敏检测。在黄热疫苗接种者的随访检测中，WN/YF17D检测方法的灵敏度与PRNT相当；针对急性登革病毒感染住院患者的血清样本，两种检测方法均存在特异性不足的问题。反之，在未接触过黄病毒感染或疫苗接种的健康成人，以及急性登革感染后一段时间采集的患者血清中，两种检测方法均呈严格阴性结果。综上，WN/YF17D检测方法尤其适用于大规模流行病学研究，以及黄热病毒中和抗体的筛查工作。