ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2018
Development and evaluation of antibody-capture immunoassays for detection of Lassa virus nucleoprotein-specific immunoglobulin M and G.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Clinical characterization of Lassa fever: A systematic review of clinical reports and research to inform clinical trial design.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Pooled it
- Sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tests for Lassa fever: a systematic review.BMC infectious diseases · 2019Pooled it
- Development of novel monoclonal antibodies for detection of pan-Lassa virus.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Serosurveillance Identifies an Endemic Hotspot of Lassa Fever in Faranah, Upper Guinea.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Evaluation of antigen and antibody assays for surveillance of Lassa virus in peri-domestic rodents in southeastern Sierra Leone: a cross-sectional study.The Lancet. Microbe · 2025Article
- Seroepidemiology of Lassa virus in pregnant women in Southern Nigeria: A prospective hospital-based cohort study.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023Article
- Transplacental transfer of Lassa IgG antibodies in pregnant women in Southern Nigeria: A prospective hospital-based cohort study.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023Article
- Influence of Landscape Patterns on Exposure to Lassa Fever Virus, Guinea.Emerging infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Lassa Virus Countermeasures.Current topics in microbiology and immunology · 2023Article
- Fcγ-Receptor-Based Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays for Sensitive, Specific, and Persistent Detection of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Protein IgG Antibodies in Human Sera.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2022Article
- Detection of Lassa Virus-Reactive IgG Antibodies in Wild Rodents: Validation of a Capture Enzyme-Linked Immunological Assay.Viruses · 2022Article
- Validation of the Particle-Based Multi-Analyte Technology for Detection of Anti-PhosphatidylSerine/Prothrombin Antibodies.Biomedicines · 2020Article
- Lassa fever diagnostics: past, present, and future.Current opinion in virology · 2019Review
- Diagnostics for Lassa fever virus: a genetically diverse pathogen found in low-resource settings.BMJ global health · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
24 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe classical method for detection of Lassa virus-specific antibodies is the immunofluorescence assay (IFA) using virus-infected cells as antigen. However, IFA requires laboratories of biosafety level 4 for assay production and an experienced investigator to interpret the fluorescence signals. Therefore, we aimed to establish and evaluate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) using recombinant Lassa virus nucleoprotein (NP) as antigen. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL
findingsThe IgM ELISA is based on capturing IgM antibodies using anti-IgM, and the IgG ELISA is based on capturing IgG antibody-antigen complexes using rheumatoid factor or Fc gamma receptor CD32a. Analytical and clinical evaluation was performed with 880 sera from Lassa fever endemic (Nigeria) and non-endemic (Ghana and Germany) areas. Using the IFA as reference method, we observed 91.5-94.3% analytical accuracy of the ELISAs in detecting Lassa virus-specific antibodies. Evaluation of the ELISAs for diagnosis of Lassa fever on admission to hospital in an endemic area revealed a clinical sensitivity for the stand-alone IgM ELISA of 31% (95% CI 25-37) and for combined IgM/IgG detection of 26% (95% CI 21-32) compared to RT-PCR. The specificity of IgM and IgG ELISA was estimated at 96% (95% CI 93-98) and 100% (95% CI 99-100), respectively, in non-Lassa fever patients from non-endemic areas. In patients who seroconverted during follow-up, Lassa virus-specific IgM and IgG developed simultaneously rather than sequentially. Consistent with this finding, isolated IgM reactivity, i.e. IgM in the absence of IgG, had no diagnostic value. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The ELISAs are not equivalent to RT-PCR for early diagnosis of Lassa fever; however, they are of value in diagnosing patients at later stage. The IgG ELISA may be useful for epidemiological studies and clinical trials due its high specificity, and the higher throughput rate and easier operation compared to IFA.
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