Development, qualification, and validation of the Filovirus Animal Nonclinical Group anti-Ebola virus glycoprotein immunoglobulin G enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for human serum samples

The need for an efficacious vaccine against highly pathogenic filoviruses was reinforced by the recent and devastating 2014–2016 outbreak of Ebola virus (EBOV) disease in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia that resulted in more than 10,000 casualties. Such a vaccine would need to be vetted through a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) traditional, accelerated, or Animal Rule or similar European Medicines Agency (EMA) regulatory pathway. Under the FDA Animal Rule, vaccine-induced immune responses correlating with survival of non-human primates (NHPs), or another well-characterized animal model, following lethal EBOV challenge will need to be bridged to human immune response distributions in clinical trials. When possible, species-neutral methods are ideal for detection and bridging of these immune responses, such as methods to quantify anti-EBOV glycoprotein (GP) immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies. Further, any method that will be used to support advanced clinical and non-clinical trials will most likely require formal validation to assess suitability prior to use. Reported here is the development, qualification, and validation of a Filovirus Animal Nonclinical Group anti-EBOV GP IgG Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (FANG anti-EBOV GP IgG ELISA) for testing human serum samples.