By Diagnostics World Staff
January 5, 2016 | Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology have announced the creation of a specific antibody test for dengue fever. While antibody tests already exist for diagnosis of dengue, cross-reactivity with antibodies from related flaviviruses, like yellow fever and West Nile virus, mean the current tests are not definitive. As a result, the only gold standard for dengue diagnosis today is a PCR test, which is less widely available and cannot be extended to the point of care.
Fraunhofer researchers designed their new antibody test through rational engineering of dengue antigens. “Using certain point mutations, we altered the area of the antigens that is the same for all flaviviruses, effectively shutting it off,” said Sebastian Ulbert, Head of the Working Group on Vaccine Technologies, in a press release. “Antibodies are then unable to bind at these now non-specific sites, with the exception of the dengue-specific antibodies that would otherwise have been masked by the crowd.” If the test’s specificity is borne out in future studies, the antigens Ulbert’s group created could be used in many existing diagnostic platforms.
Dengue fever is a global disease affecting tens of millions of people a year, most in low-income countries where the need for cheap, point-of-care testing is acute. Incidence of dengue fever is also on the rise in the United States, where cases have been seen in southern states like Florida and Texas, and where an outbreak is currently ongoing in Hawaii.