Determination of Neutralizing Antibody and IgG Antibody to Varicella-Zoster Virus and of IgG Antibody to Membrane Antigens by the Immunoperoxidase Technique

Abstract

Neutralizing antibody and IgG antibody to varicella-zoster (V-Z) virus, as well as IgG antibody to membrane antigens of V-l virus, have been determined with use of the immunoperoxidase antibody (IPA) technique. A group of 12 patients with zoster and a group of 25 healthy adults were tested, and titers of antibody were compared with those obtained with the complement-fixation (CF) test. In most cases, no titer of antibody to V-l virus was detectable by CF in patients with zoster before onset of infection or in healthy adults, whereas titers of 1:20-1 :80 were detectable in all cases by the IPA plaque-reduction neutralization test and the IPA test for detection of IgG antibody (IPA-IgG test), as well as by the IPA test for detection of antibody to membrane antigens (IPAMA). During the course of zoster infection, titers of CF antibody reached levels almost as high as titers detected with the other three techniques but dropped to undetectable levels after a few months. Antibody detected by neutralization, IPA-IgG, and IPAMA tests was detectable consistently. No titer of antibody to V-l virus was detected by any test in samples of serum obtained from five children before varicella infection. The three techniques appear to be equally sensitive and specific. The plaque-reduction neutralization test is the most exact but also the most cumbersome and time-consuming. The IPAMA test requires that V-l virus-infected cells be available daily. The IPA-IgG test seems to be the most suitable test since problems of nonspecific staining were not encountered at serum dilutions of ⩾1:10.