New complement fixation test with peroxidase-labeled complement Clq for direct and quantitative determination of antibodies to herpes simplex virus.

An enzyme-labeled complement fixation (ELISA-CF) test for the direct and quantitative determination of complement fixing (CF) antibodies has been developed. This paper described the introduction of the ELISA-CF test that used peroxidase-labeled Clq component of complement to detect CF antibodies which had reacted with herpes simplex virus (HSV), as a virus model. Equal volumes of heat-inactivated serum and the peroxidase-labeled Clq (P*-Clq) were simultaneously added to wells of microplates which had been coated with HSV CF antigen or with cell control antigen. The enzymatic activities of P*-Clq bound to the immune complex were determined photometrically. The ELISA-CF test allows processing of serum specimens in a 3-hr operation, with procedural simplicity and increased specificity and sensitivity compared with the conventional CF test.