Avidity maturation of IgG antibody responses directed against the structural proteins of rubella virus (E1, E2, and C) as well as whole rubella virus (RV) was assessed at sequential time intervals in 7 individuals following serologically confirmed wild rubella infection. Individual structural proteins were purified from tissue culture supernatants by differential centrifugation, followed by preparative SDS-PAGE under non-reducing conditions. Avidity of IgG anti-rubella responses was measured by using the 8 M urea elution technique and results expressed as an elution ratio [ER(%)]. A low mean ER(%) of 23% was determined for E1-specific IgG responses during the 10-20 day period following onset of clinical rubella, with subsequent maturation of avidity ER(%) values to 52%, 75%, and 84% at 3 months, 1 year, and 2 years, respectively, post-rubella. In contrast, IgG anti-E2 responses showed minimal avidity maturation with ER(%) values of 20%, 29%, 30%, and 31% over the same time intervals. Similarly, responses to the capsid protein (C) remained at low avidity ER(%) values of 21%, 29%, 36%, and 35% over the 2 year follow-up period. The avidity maturation values for IgG directed against whole RV preparations paralleled observations for E1-specific responses with ER(%) values of 23%, 52%, 85%, and 87%, respectively. These data support the need to assess individual protein-specific antibody avidities in order to more fully understand viral-specific immune responses.
