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Hemagglutinin inhibition with ether-treated antigen as a more sensitive method to measure the immunological response to an asian influenza virus vaccine

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Summary

The appearance of antibodies in the sera of 31 adults receiving a monovalent formalin-inactivated Asian influenza virus vaccine, in August-September 1957, has been studied by complement fixation (CF) and hemagglutinin-inhibition (HI) tests.

When crude allantoic fluid antigen of the pure egg line of A/Japan/305/57 virus was used in the HI tests, none of the 31 paired sera tested showed any significant titer rise. On the other hand, with ether treated virus of the same line as antigen, 16 paired sera out of 31 gave a significant (fourfold or higher) HI titer rise.

Significant CP titer rises were observed in 5 out of 17 paired sera tested. Ether treatment of the antigen did not increase the sensitivity of the CF tests.

CF titer rises against the “soluble antigen” extracted from the virus by ether treatment were observed in 5 paired sera out of 15 tested.

Ether treatment of the virus also increased the sensitivity of HI tests performed with 4 sera from individuals recovering from natural Asian influenza infection.

Treatment of the virus with ethyl ether prior to its use in the HI tests did not alter the specificity of the reaction, as shown by control HI tests with ether treated PR 8 or Swine S-15 viruses.

The possible mechanisms of the increased sensitivity of HI tests with ether treated virus antigen are discussed. It is suggested that ether treatment of the virus removed an excess of “soluble antigen” coating the virus particles, which may have interfered in the reaction between the hemagglutinins and the hemagglutimn-inhibiting antibodies.

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Author notes

  1. Georges H. Werner (Research Assistant Professor of Microbiology in Medicine)

    Present address: Société des Usines Chimiques Rhône-Poulenc, Vitry-sur-Seine, France

  2. Rameshwar Sharma

    Present address: Department of Preventive Medicine, S.M.S. Medical College, Jaipur (Raj.), India

  3. Leon Gogolski

    Present address: Department of Physiological Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Microbiology in Medicine, The Wistar Institute, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 4, Pa

    Georges H. Werner (Research Assistant Professor of Microbiology in Medicine), Rameshwar Sharma & Leon Gogolski

Authors
  1. Georges H. Werner
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  2. Rameshwar Sharma
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  3. Leon Gogolski
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Additional information

WHO Fellow at the Harvard University School of Public Health, temporarily working in the Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

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Werner, G.H., Sharma, R. & Gogolski, L. Hemagglutinin inhibition with ether-treated antigen as a more sensitive method to measure the immunological response to an asian influenza virus vaccine. Archiv f Virusforschung 10, 7–18 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01258764

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01258764

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