Analysis of the human serological immune response to a variable region of the attachment (G) protein of respiratory syncytial virus during primary infection.

The serum antibody responses of babies to the variable carboxy-terminal region of the attachment (G) protein of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) have been analysed using paired acute and convalescent sera from infants experiencing their first RSV infection with viruses of known genotype. The variable 84-85 carboxy-terminal amino acids of the G protein of six recent isolates of group A RSV were expressed in Escherichia coli as fusion proteins with glutahione S-transferase. About half the infants developed antibodies which recognised these fusion proteins. The patterns of response obtained in enzyme linked immunosorbant assays and immunoblotting assays were closely related to the infecting genotype.