Development and validation of an assay for detection of Japanese encephalitis virus specific antibody responses.

• Main Authors: Pradeep Darshana Pushpakumara, Chandima Jeewandara, Laksiri Gomes, Yashodha Perera, Ananda Wijewickrama, Gathsaurie Neelika Malavige, Charitha Goonesekara
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2020-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238609

<h4>Introduction</h4>Although immune responses to the Japanese Encephalitis virus (JEV), and the dengue viruses (DENV) have a potential to modulate the immune responses to each other, this has been poorly investigated. Therefore, we developed an ELISA to identify JEV specific, DENV non cross-reactive antibody responses by identifying JEV specific, highly conserved regions of the virus and proceeded to investigate if the presence of JEV specific antibodies associate with dengue disease severity.<h4>Methodology and results</h4>22 JEV specific peptides were identified from highly conserved regions of the virus and the immunogenicity and specificity of these peptides were assessed in individuals who were non-immune to JEV and DENV (JEV-DENV-, N = 30), those who were only immune to the JEV and not DENV (JEV+DENV-, N = 30), those who were only immune to DENV(JEV-DENV+, N = 30) and in those who were immune to both viruses (JEV+DENV+, N = 30). 7/22 peptides were found to be highly immunogenic and specific and these 7 peptides were used as a pool to further evaluate JEV-specific responses. All 30/30 JEV+DENV- and 30/30 JEV+DENV+ individuals, and only 3/30 (10%) JEV-DENV+ individuals responded to this pool. We further evaluated this pool of 7 peptides in patients following primary and secondary dengue infection during the convalescent period and found that the JEV-specific peptides, were unlikely to cross react with DENV IgG antibodies. We further compared this in-house ELISA developed with the peptide pool with an existing commercial JEV IgG assay to identify JEV-specific IgG following vaccination, and our in-house ELISA was found to be more sensitive. We then proceeded to investigate if the presence of JEV-specific antibodies were associated with dengue disease severity, and we found that those who had past severe dengue (n = 175) were significantly more likely (p<0.0001) to have JEV-specific antibodies than those with past non-severe dengue (n = 175) (OR 5.3, 95% CI 3.3 to 8.3).<h4>Conclusions</h4>As our data show that this assay is highly sensitive and specific for detection of JEV-specific antibody responses, it would be an important tool to determine how JEV seropositivity modulate dengue immunity and disease severity when undertaking dengue vaccine trials.