Chemiluminescence Western blot assay for the detection of immunity against parvovirus B19VP1 and VP2 linear epitopes using a videocamera based luminograph

A chemiluminescent Western blot (WB) assay was developed to detect the immune status against linear epitopes of parvovirus B19 structural proteins VPI and VP2. The chemiluminescent WE assay combined the sensitivity of chemiluminescent substrates and the objective evaluation of the luminescent signal obtained with a new system which consists of a videocamera-based, high-performance, low light level imaging luminograph connected to a personal computer for image analysis. The potential for diagnostic purposes was evaluated using reference serum samples and 75 clinical samples from patients with different clinical conditions and laboratory evaluations regarding B19 infection. The chemiluminescent Western blot assay provided reproducible results, an objective evaluation of the results and a semi-quantitative analysis of the presence of antibodies against VP1 and VP2 in human sera. The chemiluminescent Western blot assay proved more sensitive than the classic colourimetric Western blot assay. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.