Factors involved in enzyme-linked immunoassay of viruses and evaluation of the method for identification of enteroviruses.

A quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used for identification of selected enteroviruses: poliovirus type 1, echovirus type 6, coxsackievirus A type 9, and coxsackievirus B types 1 through 6. Partially purified viral antigens or virus-specific antibodies were adsorbed to polystyrene spectrophotometer cuvettes, which permitted the assays to be reported and compared in terms of enzyme units specifically reacting. Both the adsorbed antigen and the adsorbed antibody methods were approximately equal in terms of sensitivity and specificity of reaction. By use [14C]leucine-labeled enteroviruses, the amount of virus that bound to the plastics used was shown to be dependent on the purity of the virus preparation used, but it was higher than the amount that was bound by plastics coated with viral antibody. Diluents which contained 0.15% (vol/vol) Tween 20 and 2.0% (wt/vol) bovine serum albumin in phosphate-buffered saline, pH 7.2, were found to be the most effective in inhibiting nonspecific adsorption of immunoreagents. However, the presence of these inhibitors in phosphate-buffered saline solutions also caused desorption of virus or viral antibody during immunoassays; the amount of virus desorption varied with the type of preparation used, and antibody desorption was dependent on the concentration of antibody initially used for adsorption. For specific identification of a given enterovirus type by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method used, approximately 10(5) plaque-forming units of virus per assay tube were required.