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Journal of Clinical Microbiology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Microbiology
. 1996 Jul;34(7):1694–1700. doi: 10.1128/jcm.34.7.1694-1700.1996

Quantification of systemic and local immune responses to individual rotavirus proteins during rotavirus infection in mice.

S Ishida 1, N Feng 1, B Tang 1, J M Gilbert 1, H B Greenberg 1
PMCID: PMC229097  PMID: 8784572

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to develop a quantitative assay that could be used to measure the local and systemic immune responses to specific rotavirus proteins following rotavirus infection of adult mice. To measure these responses, we used an immunocytochemical staining assay of Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf-9) cells which were infected with recombinant baculovirus expressing selected rotavirus proteins. The specificity of the assay was documented by using a series of monoclonal antibodies to individual rotavirus proteins. We observed that the assay had high levels of sensitivity and specificity for a series of VP7- and VP4-specific neutralizing monoclonal antibodies which recognized conformation-dependent epitopes on their target proteins. We also studied immunoglobulin G (IgG) immune responses in serum and IgA immune responses in the stools of mice infected with wild-type murine rotavirus strain EHPw. In both sera and stools, the most immunogenic proteins were VP6 and VP4. VP2 was less immunogenic than VP6 or VP4, and the immune responses to VP7, NSP2, and NSP4 were very low in serum and undetectable in stools.

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Selected References

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