Validation of a modified commercial assay for the detection of rubella-specific IgG in oral fluid for use in population studies

A. Ben Salah, A. Zaâtour, L. Pomery, B. J. Cohen*, D. W.G. Brown, N. Andrews

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Matching serum and oral fluid (saliva) samples were collected from 369 subjects in Tunisia in 2002, from a city in the north and a rural district in the south. Rubella-specific IgG was detected in sera by commercial ELISA (Dade Behring) and in matching oral fluids by two methods, a previously described IgG-capture ELISA (GACELISA) [J. Clin. Microbiol. 37 (1999) 391] and the Dade Behring ELISA with the assay protocol modified for use with oral fluids. Total IgG concentration of oral fluids was also measured. Rubella-specific IgG was detected in 289 (78.3%) sera overall. Differences in the age distribution of the study population in the north and south led to a higher prevalence being found in the north (86.2%) than in the south (71.8%). This difference was reflected in the oral fluid rubella-specific IgG results. With GACELISA, rubella-specific IgG was detected in 79.4% of oral fluids from the north and 69.7% from the south and with the modified Dade Behring assay, in 81.4% of oral fluids from the north and in 64.9% from the south. The sensitivity and specificity of GACELISA in comparison to results from the matching sera were 92.4 and 93.2%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the modified Dade Behring ELISA were 89.8 and 92.0%, respectively. Total IgG concentration in oral fluid showed a weak correlation (r=0.19) with the modified Dade Behring results and with samples where total IgG was >7.5mg/l, the sensitivity and specificity were 94.4 and 90.0%, respectively. Twenty-nine oral fluids, which gave false negative rubella-specific IgG results with the modified Dade Behring ELISA, had a lower mean total IgG concentration than 256 oral fluids which gave concordant positive results (7.0mg/l versus 15.8mg/l, P<0.001). The study validated the modified Dade Behring ELISA, providing an alternative to the GACELISA for assessing levels of rubella immunity for population studies using oral fluid samples.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)151-158
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Virological Methods
Volume114
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2003

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to thank Sharon Barnett and John Parry of the Sexually Transmitted and Blood Borne Virus Laboratory, Health Protection Agency, for performing total IgG assays on oral fluid samples in this study. The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of the Institut Pasteur de Tunis and received financial support from Department of International Development and the British Council Tunisia (BC ref: TNS/991/2/14).

Keywords

  • Oral fluid
  • Rubella
  • Sero-epidemiology

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