Correlation between pseudotyped virus and authentic virus neutralisation assays, a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature

Cantoni, D. et al. (2023) Correlation between pseudotyped virus and authentic virus neutralisation assays, a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature. Frontiers in Immunology, 14, 1184362. (doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1184362) (PMID:37790941) (PMCID:PMC10544934)

Abstract

Background: The virus neutralization assay is a principal method to assess the efficacy of antibodies in blocking viral entry. Due to biosafety handling requirements of viruses classified as hazard group 3 or 4, pseudotyped viruses can be used as a safer alternative. However, it is often queried how well the results derived from pseudotyped viruses correlate with authentic virus. This systematic review and meta-analysis was designed to comprehensively evaluate the correlation between the two assays. Methods: Using PubMed and Google Scholar, reports that incorporated neutralisation assays with both pseudotyped virus, authentic virus, and the application of a mathematical formula to assess the relationship between the results, were selected for review. Our searches identified 67 reports, of which 22 underwent a three-level meta-analysis. Results: The three-level meta-analysis revealed a high level of correlation between pseudotyped viruses and authentic viruses when used in an neutralisation assay. Reports that were not included in the meta-analysis also showed a high degree of correlation, with the exception of lentiviral-based pseudotyped Ebola viruses. Conclusion: Pseudotyped viruses identified in this report can be used as a surrogate for authentic virus, though care must be taken in considering which pseudotype core to use when generating new uncharacterised pseudotyped viruses.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Funding was provided by UKRI (MC_PC_20016) and NIHR (COV0170 – HICC: Hummoral Immune Correlates for COVID19), SARS-CoV-2 Immunity and Reinfection Evaluation (SIREN) study (UKRI: MR/W02067X/1) and Wellcome Trust (360GWellcome-220981/Z/20/Z). DC is supported by core funding the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (MC_UU_00034/1).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Wilkie, Dr Craig and Ray, Professor Surajit and Cantoni, Dr Diego
• Authors: Cantoni, D., Wilkie, C., Bentley, E. M., Mayora-Neto, M., Wright, E., Scott, S., Ray, S., Castillo-Olivares, J., Heeney, J. L., Mattiuzzo, G., and Temperton, N. J.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity; College of Science and Engineering > School of Mathematics and Statistics > Statistics
• Journal Name: Frontiers in Immunology
• Publisher: Frontiers Media
• ISSN: 1664-3224
• ISSN (Online): 1664-3224
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 Cantoni, Wilkie, Bentley, Mayora-Neto, Wright, Scott, Ray, Castillo-Olivares, Heeney, Mattiuzzo and Temperton.
• First Published: First published in Frontiers in Immunology 14:1184362
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license