Correlating IgG levels with neutralising antibody levels to indicate clinical protection in healthcare workers at risk during a measles outbreak

Hu, S., Logan, N., Coleman, S., Evans, C., Willett, B. J. and Hosie, M. J. (2022) Correlating IgG levels with neutralising antibody levels to indicate clinical protection in healthcare workers at risk during a measles outbreak. Viruses, 14(8), 1716. (doi: 10.3390/v14081716) (PMID:36016338) (PMCID:PMC9415042)

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Abstract

The rapid transmission of measles poses a great challenge for measles elimination. Thus, rapid testing is required to screen the health status in the population during measles outbreaks. A pseudotype-based virus neutralisation assay was used to measure neutralising antibody titres in serum samples collected from healthcare workers in Sheffield during the measles outbreak in 2016. Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) pseudotypes bearing the haemagglutinin and fusion glycoproteins of measles virus (MeV) and carrying a luciferase marker gene were prepared; the neutralising antibody titre was defined as the dilution resulting in 90% reduction in luciferase activity. Spearman’s correlation coefficients between IgG titres and neutralising antibody levels ranged from 0.40 to 0.55 (p < 0.05) or from 0.71 to 0.79 (p < 0.0001) when the IgG titres were obtained using different testing kits. In addition, the currently used vaccine was observed to cross-neutralise most circulating MeV genotypes. However, the percentage of individuals being “well-protected” was lower than 95%, the target rate of vaccination coverage to eliminate measles. These results demonstrate that the level of clinical protection against measles in individuals could be inferred by IgG titre, as long as a precise correlation has been established between IgG testing and neutralisation assay; moreover, maintaining a high vaccination coverage rate is still necessary for measles elimination.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:Funding: This study was supported by awards from the Department of Health, UK (to B.J.W. and M.J.H.), N.L. and B.J.W. were funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC, BB/R004250/1) and S.H. was supported by a studentship from the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC).
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:hu, siyuan and Hosie, Professor Margaret and Willett, Professor Brian and Logan, Miss Nicola
Authors: Hu, S., Logan, N., Coleman, S., Evans, C., Willett, B. J., and Hosie, M. J.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences
College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity
Journal Name:Viruses
Publisher:MDPI
ISSN:1999-4915
ISSN (Online):1999-4915
Published Online:04 August 2022
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2022 by the authors
First Published:First published in Viruses 15(8): 1716
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
301313Atypical bovine morbillivirus infections in the Serengeti ecosystemBrian WillettBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)BB/R004250/1III - Centre for Virus Research