Neutralization test for BK virus: plaque reduction detected by immunoperoxidase staining

Abstract

We developed an immunoperoxidase staining test to detect structural antigens of BK virus (BKV) in Vero cell cultures. This test was used to examine the neutralizing activity of human and immunized animal sera. It was shown that sera positive for BKV antibodies measured by hemagglutination inhibition test and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were able to prevent expression of BKV structural antigens in cell cultures. The correlation between titers in the hemagglutination inhibition test, levels of BKV IgG measured by ELISA, and the titers assayed by the immunoperoxidase neutralization test was high. We suggest that this type of test may be used instead of conventional neutralization tests for other viruses with slowly developing cytopathogenic effects.