Species-independent Bioassay for Sensitive Quantification of Antiviral Type I Interferons

Overview

Journal Virol J

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Microbiology

Date 2010 Mar 2

PMID 20187932

Citations 23

Authors

Thomas Kuri

Matthias Habjan

Nicola Penski

Friedemann Weber

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Studies of the host response to infection often require quantitative measurement of the antiviral type I interferons (IFN-alpha/beta) in biological samples. The amount of IFN is either determined via its ability to suppress a sensitive indicator virus, by an IFN-responding reporter cell line, or by ELISA. These assays however are either time-consuming and lack convenient readouts, or they are rather insensitive and restricted to IFN from a particular host species.

Results: An IFN-sensitive, Renilla luciferase-expressing Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV-Ren) was generated using reverse genetics. Human, murine and avian cells were tested for their susceptibility to RVFV-Ren after treatment with species-specific IFNs. RVFV-Ren was able to infect cells of all three species, and IFN-mediated inhibition of viral reporter activity occurred in a dose-dependent manner. The sensitivity limit was found to be 1 U/ml IFN, and comparison with a standard curve allowed to determine the activity of an unknown sample.

Conclusions: RVFV-Ren replicates in cells of several species and is highly sensitive to pre-treatment with IFN. These properties allowed the development of a rapid, sensitive, and species-independent antiviral assay with a convenient luciferase-based readout.

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