EVALUATION OF A MULTIPLEX ARBOVIRUS SEROLOGY ASSAY AS A TOOL FOR SEROSURVEILLANCE

Abstract

Abstract Arthropod-borne viruses (Arboviruses) constitute a serious threat to global health by causing significant mortality and morbidity. Recent years have seen the emergence of arboviruses due to climatic changes, the adaptation of mosquitoes, and other arthropods to a newer geographic area, urbanization, and increased global travel and trade. Currently, most serosurveillance programs focus on single pathogen testing that may miss the prevalent pathogen or misdiagnose due to the presence of cross-reacting antibodies from closely related arboviruses. In the wake of the 2015–2016 Zika virus outbreaks, we developed a multiplex suspension array for the detection of IgG antibodies and avidity to multiple analytes of arboviruses on the Luminex platform to overcome these limitations. We used optically coded magnetic microspheres to immobilize antigens from 10 different arboviruses, namely, Zika (ZIKV), Dengue all four serotypes (DENV 1–4), West Nile (WNV), Japanese Encephalitis (JEV), Yellow Fever (YFV), Tick-Borne Encephalitis (TBEV), and Chikungunya (CHIKV. This 18-plex assay also includes five different internal controls that assure the assay and reagent performance. Initial characterization of the platform was performed using experimentally infected primate samples collected longitudinally before and after infection with ZIKV. In this paper, we describe the results of the evaluation of this multiplex platform using over 400 well-characterized healthy and diseased state human serum and plasma samples from various commercial and collaborating resources. We conclude that this assay provides a relevant tool for efficient monitoring of population based arboviral antibodies in endemic areas and also for detection of outbreaks.