Development and clinical evaluation of a highly accurate dengue NS1 rapid test: from the preparation of a soluble NS1 antigen to the construction of an RDT

Abstract

Early diagnosis of dengue virus (DENV) is important. There are numerous products on the market claiming to detect DENV NS1, but these are not always reliable. In this study, a highly sensitive and accurate rapid diagnostic test (RDT) was developed using anti-dengue NS1 monoclonal antibodies. A recombinant NS1 protein was produced with high antigenicity and purity. Monoclonal antibodies were raised against this purified NS1 antigen. The RDT was constructed using a capturing (4A6A10, Kd=7.512±0.419×10(-9)) and a conjugating antibody (3E12E6, Kd=7.032±0.322×10(-9)). The diagnostic performance was evaluated with NS1-positive clinical samples collected from various dengue endemic countries and compared to SD BioLine Dengue NS1 Ag kit. The constructed RDT exhibited higher sensitivity (92.9%) with more obvious diagnostic performance than the commercial kit (83.3%). The specificity of constructed RDT was 100%. The constructed RDT could offer a reliable point-of-care testing tool for the early detection of dengue infections in remote areas and contribute to the control of dengue-related diseases.

Keywords: Anti-NS1 monoclonal antibody; Dengue virus; NS1 protein; Rapid diagnostic test.