Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Use of recombinant nucleocapsid proteins for serological diagnosis of feline coronavirus infection by three immunochromatographic tests.
- Journal:
- Journal of virological methods
- Year:
- 2014
- Authors:
- Takano, Tomomi et al.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
Researchers developed three different tests to check for antibodies against feline coronavirus (FCoV) in cats. They found that while all three tests could detect these antibodies, two of them sometimes gave false positive results, meaning they showed a positive result even when the cat didn't have the virus. The third test, which used a different method, was able to accurately identify the antibodies in various types of samples, like blood and fluid from the abdomen, and worked as well as a more traditional test called ELISA. This new test could help in diagnosing FCoV and might be useful for other cat viruses in the future.
Abstract
Three types of immunochromatographic assays (ICAs) were designed to detect anti-feline coronavirus (FCoV) antibodies. Recombinant FCoV nucleocapsid protein (rNP) was used as a conjugate or test line in all 3 ICA kits (CJIgG/TNP, CJNP/TNP, and CJNP/TPA). All three ICA kits were capable of detecting anti-FCoV antibodies; however, non-specific positive reactions of anti-FCoV antibody-negative plasma samples with the test line were observed in 2 ICA kits (CJIgG/TNP and CJNP/TNP), in which rNP was used as the test line. On the other hand, the specific detection of anti-FCoV antibodies was possible in all plasma, serum, whole blood, and ascitic fluid samples using the ICA kit with protein A blotted as the test line (CJNP/TPA). In addition, the specificity and sensitivity of ICA (CJNP/TPA) were equivalent to those of the reference ELISA. The development of simple antibody test methods using the principle of ICA (CJNP/TPA) for other coronavirus and feline viral infections is expected in the future.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24516876/