Development of Indirect Elisas to Measure the Serum Antibody Response to Vector-Borne Diseases

In this study, recombinant viral and bacterial proteins were expressed in E. coli and used as immunogens to induce and monitor immune responses in rabbit models. The recombinant proteins were also used as coating antigens in the Indirect ELISA's to assess the prevalence of serum antibodies in various populations.

First, recombinant Zika virus Envelop and Non-structural protein 1 (NS1) were expressed. A robust immune response was observed against the Zika Envelop protein while a significant but much weaker response was observed against the Zika NS1 protein. The cross-reactivity of the respective polyclonal anti-sera was assessed against homologs from related Flavivirus viral proteins and little to no reactivity was observed.

Next, recombinant Wolbachia Surface Protein was expressed and rabbits were immunized. WSP was shown to be highly immunogenic in a hyper-immunized rabbit model. The prevalence of serum WSP antibodies was assessed in various human and animal populations, and it was shown that the majority of humans and animals contained WSP specific antibodies with the exception of Cats. The results reported here differ from previous reports which imply that Wolbachia induced antibody response is undetectable in a Mosquito model and do not initiate an immune response in a human host.