The family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus, holds many of the world’s most prevalent arboviral diseases that are also considered the most important travel related arboviral infections. In most cases, flavivirus diagnosis in travelers is primarily based on serology as viremia is often low and typically has already been reduced to undetectable levels when symptoms set in and patients seek medical attention. Serological differentiation between flaviviruses and the false-positive results caused by vaccination and cross-reactivity among the different species, are problematic for surveillance and diagnostics of flaviviruses. Their partially overlapping geographic distribution and symptoms, combined with increase in travel, and preexisting antibodies due to flavivirus vaccinations, expand the need for rapid and reliable multiplex diagnostic tests to supplement currently used methods. We describe the development of a multiplex serological protein microarray using recombinant NS1 proteins for detection of medically important viruses within the genus Flavivirus. Sera from clinical flavivirus patients were used for primary development of the protein microarray. Results show a high IgG and IgM sensitivity and specificity for individual NS1 antigens, and limited cross reactivity, even within serocomplexes. In addition, the serology based on this array allows for discrimination between infection and vaccination response for JEV vaccine, and no cross-reactivity with TBEV and YFV vaccine induced antibodies when testing for antibodies to other flaviviruses. Based on these data, multiplex NS1-based protein microarray is a promising tool for surveillance and diagnosis of flaviviruses.
The family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus, holds many of the world’s most prevalent arboviral diseases that are also considered the most important travel related arboviral infections. [1] As the geographic distribution and symptoms caused by these viruses overlap, detection requires differential diagnostic algorithms that include multiple flaviviruses. [2] Increase in travel expands the need for rapid and reliable multiplex diagnostic tests in non-endemic countries to supplement currently used methods. [3,4] Flaviviruses are single stranded enveloped viruses with an RNA genome of about 11 kb length. The genome is composed of three structural (Envelope, Capsid and Precursor-membrane) and seven non-structural proteins (NS1, NS2A, NS2B, NS3, NS4A, NS4B and NS5). [5] Diagnosis is primarily based on serology through detection of IgM and IgG antibodies, as viremia typically has been reduced to undetectable levels when symptoms set in and patients seek medical attention. [5–7] The genus is divided into serocomplexes that are distinguished based on neutralizing antibody reactivity (Fig. 1). The amino acid homology of the envelope (E) protein (which is the immunodominant antigen for neutralizing antibody assays) ranges from 40–50% between serocomplexes and 70–80% for virus species within a serocomplex. [5,8] Antibodies to flaviviruses are known to cross-react extensively within, and to a certain extent between, serocomplexes when using traditional antibody assays. [9–12] Cross-reactivity occurs also if patients have been vaccinated against flaviviruses such as yellow fever virus (YFV), tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) and/or Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) or after secondary infection with a different flavivirus. [9,10,13] To overcome flavivirus cross-reactivity in diagnostics the use of recombinant antigens in ELISA is to be preferred over whole virus as it increases specificity. [14–16] Envelope, pre M and NS1 recombinant proteins are the most commonly used. [14–16] Of these, the NS1 has shown to be highly immunogenic and important in the development of non-neutralizing protective antibodies. [17,18] NS1 is thought to contain more species specific epitopes than the envelope protein, although some cross-reactivity is seen between NS1 proteins. [19–21] NS1 in its natural conformation is thought to elicit a more specific immune response. [22,23] The absence of NS1 proteins in inactivated JEV vaccines offers further potential for serological diagnosis through allowing differentiation between vaccinated and infected patients. [24] Thus, NS1 protein shows potential to use in serological differentiation between flavivirus infections. [25,26] To enable fast, syndrome based laboratory testing that focuses on multiple rather than individual viruses, we developed a protein microarray, using recombinant NS1 proteins, as a serological test for medically important viruses within the Flavivirus genus.
Sera from anonymized patients were used for primary development of the protein microarray. Patients were diagnosed according to international accepted criteria combining clinical symptoms, epidemiological data, and standard serological methods (ELISA, IFA) and laboratory confirmed by either VNT or PCR with the exception of 10 patients suspected of JEV. Information on each patient group used is presented in Table 1. Custom-made NS1 proteins produced in human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK293) cells to ensure proper folding, glycosylation and dimerization were used (Immune Technology Inc. , New York, NY, USA). A V5-epitope and Histag were added to the C-terminus for protein quantification and filtration. Proteins were expressed for Dengue virus 1 (genbank: FJ687432. 1), Dengue virus 2 (genbank: FJ744720. 1), Dengue virus 3, (genbank: FJ744738. 1), Dengue virus 4 (genbank: EU854300. 1), Japanese encephalitis virus (genbank: NC_001437. 1), St. Louis encephalitis virus (genbank: ACB58159. 1), Yellow fever virus (genbank: JN620362. 1) and West Nile virus (genbank: EU081844. 1) Usutu virus NS1 (genbank: NC006551. 1) was produced in-house in a HEK293 cell-line. The NS1 gene was produced by Genscript (NJ, USA) with an additional V5-epitope and Histag on the C-terminus and cloned into a pcDNA-DEST40 vector (Invitrogen, Thermo Fisher Scientific, MA, USA) that contained a neomycine resistance gene. The vector which contained the NS1 gene was transfected into HEK293 cells. Neomycine resistant clones were selected and tested for protein expression by immune fluorescent assay using anti-V5 monoclonal antibody. Selected clones were grown in flasks and secreted NS1 protein into the medium (Opti-MEM, Thermo Fisher Scientific, MA, USA). The secreted protein was purified from the medium by FPLC using a Ni-NTA column (Qiagen, CA, USA) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. NS1 antigens at concentrations of around 2mg/ml were mixed with protein arraying buffer (Maine manufacturing, GVS Group, Italy) and spotted in triplicate as a within-test control per pad. Antigens were spotted onto a nitrocellulose pad coated glass slide (Maine manufacturing, GVS Group, Italy) using a non-contact protein array spotter (PerkinElmer, Waltham, MA, USA) as previously described. [27] Per spot two drops of 333 pL of diluted protein were used. After printing, slides were placed in a drying chamber overnight and stored at room temperature until use. Patient sera were tested on dried slides as previously described. [27] In short, slides were incubated in Blotto blocking-buffer (Thermo Fisher Scientific, MA, USA) for one hour at 37°C in an incubation chamber to reduce non-specific binding of serum. Serum was diluted in eight two-fold dilution steps (1: 10 to 1: 2560) in blotto supplemented with 0. 1% Surfact-Amp (Thermo Fisher Scientific, MA, USA) and incubated for 1 hour at 37°C in a moist chamber. Incubation followed with an Fc-fragment specific IgG or Fc5μ-fragment specific IgM specific conjugate with a Cy5-fluorescent dye (Invitrogen, CA, USA) for one hour at 37°C. For IgM detection, serum was first depleted of IgG antibodies using Gullsorb (Meridian Bioscience, OH, USA) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Between each incubation step, slides were washed three times with a protein array washing buffer (Thermo Fisher Scientifc, MA, USA). After final wash, slides were scanned with a Tecan scanner (Tecan Trading AG, Männedorf, Switzerland). A median fluorescence signal (measured at 647nm) for each of the triplet spots per antigen was determined by ScanArray Express 4. 0. 0. 0001 supporting program (PerkinElmer, MA, USA) using an adaptive circle (diameter 80–200 μm). The fluorescent signal ranged from 0 to a maximum of 65,536 units. Results were imported in R for analysis. [28] Virus antigens were spotted in serial two-fold dilutions ranging from 1: 2 to 1: 16 for initial checkerboard titrations to determine optimum protein concentration as previously described. [27] Antigens were tested using serially diluted anti-V5-epitope monoclonal antibodies (Invitrogen, Thermo Fisher Scientific, MA, USA). Optimum protein concentrations were defined as those at which maximum fluorescent signal and overlapping s-curves were achieved for anti-V5-epitope monoclonal antibodies and were found to be around 0. 5 mg/ml. To minimize batch-to-batch variations each batch was tested with a serial dilution of anti-V5 monoclonal antibodies. If a variation of more than 10% was found in reference to the initial test batch the slides were excluded. Day-to-day variations were monitored by including a positive and negative WHO DENV1–4 reference serum during each test round. If a dilution-step difference of more than one titer was detected results were excluded. [29] A script was written in R[28] using additional package ‘drc’ version 2. 3–7[30], as previously described. [27] The median fluorescent signals were converted into fitted dilution-s-curves per protein for each serum sample. Additional script was written that allowed titers to be calculated on the estimated s-curve at a given ROC calculated cut-off. Optimal signal cut-offs were determined by a log2 transformation of signals to further reduce variance caused by day-to-day and slide-to-slide variations. Optimal signal cut-offs were achieved by selecting the highest possible combination of sensitivity and specificity through ROC optimal curve calculations performed in GraphPad Prism. [31] Titers were defined as the highest serum dilution with a signal above the cut-off determined by ROC analysis. Heat maps were generated using an additional R package ‘stats’[28] and based on pairwise correlation between rows and columns. Mann-Whitney tests were employed to establish the significance of differences between groups. Dengue virus 1 (genbank: FJ687432. 1), Dengue virus 2 (genbank: FJ744720. 1), Dengue virus 3, (genbank: FJ744738. 1), Dengue virus 4 (genbank: EU854300. 1), Japanese encephalitis virus (genbank: NC_001437. 1), St. Louis encephalitis virus (genbank: ACB58159. 1), Yellow fever virus (genbank: JN620362. 1) and West Nile virus (genbank: EU081844. 1), Usutu virus NS1 (genbank: NC006551. 1).
The mean antigen reactivity by NS1 proteins in 1: 10 to 1: 80 start dilutions was high in homologous DENV, WNV, JEV, SLEV, YFV and Usutu virus (USUV) positive control sera and low in negative control sera and in sera from individuals vaccinated for JEV, TBEV or YFV (p<0. 01) with the exception of YFV NS1 antigen with YFV vaccinees (Fig. 2, Fig. 3, and Table 2). Only some NS1 reactivity was observed in samples from blood donors for other antigens (1%). At low serum dilutions, some patients showed antibody IgG reactivity to multiple antigens, and therefore ROC curves were calculated in multiple dilutions and the signals for the 1: 20 dilutions were used for signal cut-off calculations. The 1: 10 and 1: 20 serum dilutions produced comparable results in sensitivity and specificity, but with significantly lower background for the 1: 20 dilutions. At 1: 40 serum dilutions, the sensitivity started to decrease. Only 13 DENV positive patients (travelers) had known primary DENV infections with a PCR confirmed serotype (DENV1–3). All other patients with PCR confirmed DENV (serotype 1–4) were from DENV endemic countries and could not be confirmed as primary infections. As not all DENV infections were known to be primary, the highest signal to DENV1–4 NS1 was used for calculation of the DENV cut-offs. The optimal cut-off for all proteins was around a fluorescent signal of 15,000 for IgG and 4,000 for IgM, producing sensitivity and specificity of 86% to 100% (Table 3). For USUV, SLEV and YFV only one or two positive patient samples were available so that proper ROC curves could not be calculated, but background signals were in the same range as for the other antigens (Table 2). Serum samples from YFV-vaccinees were strongly positive for YFV. Some blood donors had YFV signals above the cut-off, probably reflecting vaccination history (Fig. 2). In order to study cross-reactivity within and between serocomplexes, serum samples were serially diluted and titers were calculated in R. Typical individual patient profiles are shown in Fig. 4. To quantify the degree of cross-reactivity, the ratio of the signal for each antigen to the maximum signal measured for that serum (typically the homologous antigen) was calculated (Fig. 5). With one exception for IgG (serum sample #4), all patients had the highest IgG and IgM reactivity with the homologous NS1 antigen. High level IgG reactivity to a second antigen was observed for two of the DENV patients (against WNV and JEV, respectively) and for 2 JEV patients (against DENV) (Fig. 5a). One serum sample from a JEV patient (serum sample 4) had a higher titer DENV NS1 in comparison to JEV NS1. For IgM, only homologous reactivity was observed. IgG profiles from individual patients were combined into a heatmap (Fig. 6) to confirm grouping according to exposure history. One group of patients (indicated by a star in the heatmap) showed high titers to multiple DENV serotypes. A larger group had highest titers to a single DENV serotype, suggesting serotype specificity of the antibody array results. As most patients were from different regions, the data were stratified for non-endemic (travelers) and multiple DENV endemic countries. This showed a significant difference in titers between groups (p<0. 01) for IgG but not for IgM (p = 0. 25) titers. For 13 known primary DENV cases, the serotype had been determined by RT-PCR. All but one serum had highest IgG antibody levels to the infecting serotype, but IgM antibody reactivity was lower and less discriminatory.
Serological differentiation between flaviviruses and the false-positive results caused by vaccination are a serious problem for surveillance and diagnostics of flaviviruses. Analysis of our NS1-based protein microarray results showed a high IgG and IgM sensitivity and specificity for individual antigens even within the same serocomplex, and limited cross reactivity. In addition, the serology based on this array allowed discrimination between infection and vaccination response for JEV vaccine, and no cross-reactivity with TBEV and YFV vaccine induced antibodies when testing for antibodies to other flaviviruses. Based on this data, our multiplex NS1-based protein microarray is a promising tool for surveillance and diagnosis of flaviviruses.
The number of international travelers has increased dramatically in recent decades. This has contributed to the increase in infectious diseases in travelers which are not present in their countries of origin and so may cause a threat to the public health. Viruses transmitted by biting insects (vector-borne viruses) are an important group within these travel-related diseases. They are found across the world and can cause debilitating and life-threatening symptoms, like inflammation of the brain or excessive bleeding. Many of these diseases are difficult to distinguish from each other. They cause comparable symptoms and are genetically closely related. Testing for long lists of diseases is time consuming and expensive. Here we develop a novel testing tool that allows doctors and researchers to test for multiple viruses with just one test. The method, which uses a specific part of the virus that makes distinguishing between infections with these closely related viruses possible, requires only one drop of blood. This allows us to test for multiple viruses simultaneously with the same amount of blood previously used to test for only one virus, while distinguishing between genetically closely related viruses.
Spot the Difference—Development of a Syndrome Based Protein Microarray for Specific Serological Detection of Multiple Flavivirus Infections in Travelers