Delgadillo-Gutiérrez Karen, Castelán-Vega Juan Arturo, Jiménez-Alberto Alicia, Fernández-Lizárraga Mariana Del Carmen, Aparicio-Ozores Gerardo, Monterrubio-López Gloria Paulina, Ribas-Aparicio Rosa María
Departamento de Microbiología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), Mexico City, Mexico.
Departamento de Microbiología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), Mexico City, Mexico.
J Virol Methods. 2022 Feb;300:114391. doi: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2021.114391. Epub 2021 Dec 8.
Influenza is a relevant problem for public and animal health, with a significant economic impact. In recent years, outbreaks of avian influenza virus have resulted in devastating losses in the poultry industry worldwide, and although its transmission to humans is very rare, there is always a potential risk for an even more severe outbreak. Currently, vaccination is considered the most effective tool for the control and prevention of influenza infections in both humans and animals. The maintenance of animal welfare and the successful implementation of animal health programs depend on the timely administration of vaccines, which must comply with quality specifications indicated by health authorities; for example, the capability to ensure a minimum antibody titer. The production of viral antigens used in these tests can pose a biosafety risk, and some viral strains can be difficult to grow. Therefore, new biotechnological alternatives are required to overcome these disadvantages. In this study, we produced pseudotypes carrying H5 and H7 hemagglutinins from lowly and highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses. These pseudotypes were used in neutralization assays to detect neutralizing antibodies in avian sera, which were confirmed positive by inhibition of the hemagglutination test. Our results showed that the pseudotype neutralization assay is a viable alternative for the detection of neutralizing antibodies, by demonstrating subtype specificity and requiring reduced biosafety requirements. Therefore, it represents a versatile platform that can facilitate technology transfer protocols between laboratories, and an immediate application in serological tools for quality control of veterinary vaccines against avian influenza.
流感对公共卫生和动物健康而言是一个重要问题，具有重大经济影响。近年来，禽流感病毒的爆发给全球家禽业造成了毁灭性损失，尽管其传播给人类的情况极为罕见，但始终存在引发更严重疫情的潜在风险。目前，疫苗接种被认为是控制和预防人类及动物流感感染的最有效工具。动物福利的维持以及动物健康计划的成功实施取决于疫苗的及时接种，而这些疫苗必须符合卫生当局规定的质量规格；例如，要具备确保最低抗体滴度的能力。用于这些检测的病毒抗原的生产可能带来生物安全风险，并且一些病毒株难以培养。因此，需要新的生物技术替代方法来克服这些缺点。在本研究中，我们制备了携带来自低致病性和高致病性禽流感病毒的H5和H7血凝素的假型病毒。这些假型病毒用于中和试验，以检测禽血清中的中和抗体，通过血凝抑制试验确认其呈阳性。我们的结果表明，假型病毒中和试验是检测中和抗体的一种可行替代方法，它显示出亚型特异性且对生物安全要求较低。因此，它代表了一个通用平台，能够促进实验室之间的技术转移方案，并可立即应用于禽流感兽医疫苗质量控制的血清学工具中。
