Analysis of recombinant dengue virus polypeptides for dengue diagnosis and evaluation of the humoral immune response

Dengue is a serious cause of morbidity and mortality in tropical areas worldwide. We cloned and expressed recombinant polypeptides spanning the entire genome of a Brazilian dengue virus type 2 (DENV-2) strain in contiguous segments to generate antigens for dengue diagnosis and evaluation of the human humoral immune response. When analyzed by Western blot and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using human sera, the most reactive polypeptide (pD2-3(E)) was located in the N-terminal portion of the envelope protein. The sensitivity of an IgG-ELISA using pD2-3(E) versus mouse brain antigen was 100% with convalescent sera and 79% with acute sera, with a specificity of 100%. Sera from patients infected with other DENV serotypes recognized pD2-3(E) equally well, whereas sera positive for yellow fever, rubella, and measles showed little or no reactivity. Using this novel approach, we identified a candidate antigen to facilitate diagnosis of DENV infections and observed a surprising variability in antibody patterns in the clinical response to DENV infections.