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Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, January 2008, p. 159-163, Vol. 15, No. 1
1071-412X/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/CVI.00218-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Research and Development Department, Focus Diagnostics, Inc., Cypress, California,1 Research and Development Department, BBInternational, Cardiff, United Kingdom2
Received 10 May 2007/ Returned for modification 2 August 2007/ Accepted 2 November 2007
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Primary HSV-2 infections usually are transmitted through sexual contact. HSV transmission can result from direct contact with infected secretions from symptomatic or asymptomatic individuals (19). The classic presentation is herpes genitalis, an infection characterized by lesions in the genital area, and it may be accompanied by fever, inguinal lymphadenopathy, and dysuria. Previous studies demonstrated that HSV-2 causes approximately 85% of symptomatic primary genital HSV cases, with HSV-1 infections causing the remainder (1). However, more recently it has been shown that approximately 30% of primary genital herpes infections presently are associated with HSV-1 (10, 13, 22). Despite the increase in genital herpes cases due to HSV-1, the HSV-1 recurrence rate for genital herpes has been shown to be 20% of that seen with HSV-2 during the first year after infection, and the rate of recurrence for HSV-1 genital herpes in subsequent years following primary infection decreases at a much faster pace than that of HSV-2 recurrences. Therefore, the majority of genital herpes recurrences are due to HSV-2 rather than HSV-1 infections (11).
Because of the high prevalence of asymptomatic cases, serological diagnosis and the differentiation between HSV-1 and HSV-2 infection continues to be important in the management of HSV (21). The two viruses share considerable antigenicity; however, the G glycoproteins gG-1 (HSV-1) and gG-2 (HSV-2) are divergent between the two viruses and evoke a type-specific antibody response that has been used to develop several commercially available diagnostic products (2, 23). Type-specific serological testing for HSV-1 and HSV-2 has been shown to be an accurate method for the diagnosis of HSV-1 and HSV-2 infection compared to the accuracy of Western blotting (4, 15, 17, 20).
Rapid, point-of-care serology for sexually transmitted diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) has substantially reduced the turnaround time for the delivery of results to the patient and increased the likelihood of counseling and treatment (9). Rapid testing has been shown to be more cost-effective with HIV serology testing, since it allows for the reporting of a result and counseling of the patient in a single visit (12). Today, the majority of HSV-2-specific serological testing is from laboratory-based methods such as Western blotting, immunoblotting (IB), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Here, we describe the development and evaluation of a new rapid, sensitive, specific, easy-to-use HSV-2 immunoglobulin G (IgG) serological test that is based on the native gG-2 antigen and lateral-flow technology.
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To demonstrate equivalent device performance in serum, venous whole blood, and capillary whole blood, 100 volunteer subjects were recruited according to a protocol reviewed by an external institutional review board. The 100 donors were taken from an unscreened, volunteer population of urban and suburban adults. Written informed consent to participate in the study was obtained from each subject in advance. Clinical information was not collected from donors. The study was double blinded; the identities of volunteer subjects were kept anonymous, and HSV-2 results were not provided to the donors. Capillary fingerstick whole-blood, EDTA-treated whole-blood, heparinized whole-blood, and serum samples were collected from each subject. Reference HSV-2 ELISA results, for comparison to the LFIA results, were determined by testing the serum sample.
LFIA device. The LFIA device for the detection of IgG antibodies to HSV-2 was developed as a dual-antigen direct sandwich assay. The device consists of a plastic support to which a nitrocellulose membrane striped with the test reagents is mounted. The device can analyze 15 to 20 µl of serum or whole blood (venous or capillary). After collection, the sample is added to the sample port, filtered through a blood separation membrane, and absorbed into the test strip. Next, the sample addition portion of the test housing is opened, exposing the chase buffer port. The addition of chase buffer causes the conjugate and sample to migrate up the test strip. Assay (chase) buffer (buffered saline with nonionic detergent and preservative) was provided in dropper bottles. Mylar-wrapped, lithium heparin-coated capillary tubes calibrated to 20 µl (Drummond Scientific, Broomall, PA) are used to collect capillary fingertip whole blood.
Direct antibody sandwich format. Figure 1 shows a diagram of the test strip. The 40-nm colloidal gold-conjugated goat anti-human IgG is sprayed onto a conjugate pad located between the buffer pad and the sample deposition area of the test strip (Fig. 1A). Three separate reagents (recombinant gG-1 antigen, purified native gG-2 antigen, and goat anti-human IgG antibody) are bound to a solid-phase nitrocellulose membrane. gG-1 antigen is striped in a test line nearest to the sample and serves as a preabsorbent for antibodies to HSV-1 present in the sample. Purified native gG-2 is striped in the test line (T) position, while a goat anti-human IgG is striped in the control line (C) position. The addition of a chase buffer causes the conjugate and sample to migrate across the test strip. As the sample migrates, it sequentially contacts the HSV-1 preabsorption line, the HSV-2 test line, and finally the control line, which binds the human IgG present in the sample (Fig. 1B). The anti-human IgG-gold conjugate migrates through the membrane in the aqueous phase until it is bound by human IgG that is present on the HSV-1 preabsorption and HSV-2 test lines and by the control line (Fig. 1C). The concentration of antibody-gold complexes captured by the test and control lines causes pink lines to form. The color formation is complete after 15 to 20 min. The formation of control and test lines indicates an HSV-2 positive result, while the formation of a control line only indicates an HSV-2-negative result. The absence of a control line is indicative of no sample being added to the test. Representative devices run with samples show results with chase buffer only (Fig. 2A), negative serum (Fig. 2B), and positive whole blood (Fig. 2C).
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FIG. 1. Diagram of the mechanism of the assay. (A) The sample is deposited on the test strip between the gold conjugate and test lines. (B) The addition of chase buffer causes the conjugate and sample to migrate, contacting the test lines sequentially and resulting in the capture of type-specific antibodies to HSV-2. (C) Completed test.
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FIG. 2. Assay procedure and results. (A) Device run with buffer only. (B) Device run with an HSV-2-negative serum. (C) Device run with HSV-2-positive whole blood.
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Determination of the visual limit of detection. During assay development, test lines were evaluated semiquantitatively by using a colorimetric scale (delineated in OD units) of striped lines of colloidal gold at various concentrations. A series of five pink/red lines sprayed with a colloidal gold solution of decreasing OD450 values from 10 (maximum line intensity) to 2 (weakest visible line) are striped on a card that is used to evaluate the intensity of test and control lines. HerpeSelect HSV-2 ELISA and HerpeSelect HSV-1 and -2 IB cutoff calibrators, or a venous whole-blood sample spiked with HSV-2-positive serum to be equivalent to an HSV-2 ELISA cutoff value, were used to set the visual limit of detection. Both ELISA and IB cutoff calibrators were set during the development of these products by using the gold standard HSV-2 Western blot test as a reference method (14). The visual limit of detection was set by titration of the gG-2 test line to produce a test line score of 2 (the weakest line intensity that still can be detected) with these samples.
Data evaluation. The presence of a visible test line in the presence of a visible control line was used to define a sample as LFIA positive. The presence of a visible control line and the absence of a visible test line was used to define a sample as LFIA negative. All LFIA results were verified by a second reader. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, a measure of the sensitivity and specificity of a diagnostic test; likelihood ratios; and positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV, respectively) were calculated using the MedCalc for Windows statistical package, version 9.3.0.0 (MedCalc Software, Mariakerke, Belgium). ROC analysis also was used to determine the area under the curve (AUC). AUC values approaching 1 indicate a test with a high degree of diagnostic accuracy. The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were calculated using the following definitions: TP (a true-positive result), TN (a true-negative result), FN (a false-negative result), and FP (a false-positive result). The diagnostic sensitivity was calculated as {[TP/(TP + FN)] x 100}, and the diagnostic specificity was calculated as {[TN/(TN + FP)] x 100}. PPV, the proportion of specimens with positive tests that show evidence of infection, and NPV, the proportion of specimens with negative tests that do not show evidence of infection, were calculated with the following equations: PPV = {[TP/(TP +FP)] x 100} and NPV = {[TN/(TN +FN)] x 100}. The PPV and NPV are highly dependent on the prevalence of the infection in the study population. The positive likelihood ratio (LR+), the ratio between the probability of a positive test result given the presence of the disease and the probability of a positive test result given the absence of the disease, was calculated as follows: LR+ = sensitivity/(1 – specificity). The negative likelihood ratio (LR–), the ratio between the probability of a negative test result given the presence of the disease and the probability of a negative test result given the absence of the disease, was calculated as follows: LR– = (1 – sensitivity)/(specificity). LR+ and LR– are used in medicine to rule in disease (e.g., if the LR+ is >10) or to rule out disease (e.g., if the LR– is <0.1) (16).
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TABLE 1. Comparison of LFIA and HSV-2 ELISA devices
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FIG. 3. ROCs of the HSV-2 LFIA performed with serum. ROCs were generated with MedCalc, version 9.3.0.0 (Mariakerke, Belgium), using the HerpeSelect HSV-2 ELISA as the reference method. Visible test lines were scored as positive in the LFIA. The sensitivity of the test was 100%, and the specificity was 97.3%. The AUC was 0.999 (P = 0.0001). Dashed lines indicate the 95% confidence bounds of the curve.
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For an analysis of HSV-2 LFIA data using HSV IB as a reference method, paired serum results by HSV IB were compared to LFIA results with whole blood. The results were similar to those observed with the HerpeSelect HSV-2 ELISA: both tests were positive for 19 samples and negative for 78 samples (not shown). Three samples were discordant before resolution with HSV-2 ELISA testing; of these, one was confirmed positive by HSV-2 inhibition ELISA, and two were negative by HSV-2 ELISA. Therefore, the sensitivity of the HSV-2 LFIA compared to that of the HSV IB is revised to 95% (19/20), while the specificity remains at 100% (80/80). Concordance among the four sample types tested (heparinized whole blood, EDTA-treated whole blood, serum, and capillary fingerstick whole blood) was 99% (99/100). For capillary whole blood and both types of venous whole blood, the concordance of results in the LFIA was 100%. Serum showed a slightly higher sensitivity than whole blood (91 and 86.3%, respectively) to the presence of HSV-2 IgG antibody on the LFIA. This may account for the slightly lower specificity seen with serum (97.3%) compared to that seen with capillary whole blood (100%).
Cross-reactivity and interference. Table 2 summarizes the results of the antibody reactivity of CMV (n = 11), VZV (n = 14), rubella virus (n = 34), EBV (n = 16), and HSV-1 (n = 196) IgG-positive serum samples tested in the HSV-2 LFIA. The level of cross-reactivity observed was low; only 7 out of 269 serum samples (2.6%) tested positive in the HSV-2 LFIA: one EBV IgG sample, one rubella virus IgG sample, and five HSV-1 IgG serum samples. The HSV-2-negative and the HSV-2-positive serum samples that were spiked with triglycerides, albumin, bilirubin, and hemoglobin remained unchanged in interpretation in the LFIA (data not shown).
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TABLE 2. Cross-reactivity of 269 IgG-positive serum samples tested in the HSV-2 LFIAa
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In recent years, the use of recombinant gG-2 proteins for the detection of HSV-2-specific serum antibodies has increased through the availability of commercial gG-based products. The availability of these HSV-2-specific tests offers the opportunity for clinical and peripheral diagnostic laboratories to confirm a clinical HSV-2 infection. However, the majority of the assays are relatively time-consuming and do not provide an immediate result to the patient. Here, we describe the development of an LFIA for the detection of HSV-2-specific antibodies in serum and whole blood. Such a rapid test has the potential to be used outside the routine laboratory and in less sophisticated clinical facilities. This study demonstrates that the newly developed HSV-2 LFIA is suitable for the determination of IgG antibodies to HSV-2 and can be used with serum, venous whole blood, and capillary fingerstick whole blood. A comparison of the results obtained with the HSV-2 LFIA and the HerpeSelect HSV-2-specific ELISA using serum samples demonstrated a high degree of concordance. Discrepancies between the HSV-2 LFIA and the HSV-2 ELISA may be due to the use of native gG-2 antigen in the LFIA versus recombinant gG-2 in the ELISA. In addition, the LFIA is run with undiluted serum and the HSV-2 ELISA is run at a serum dilution of 1:100. Therefore, the LFIA may be slightly more sensitive to the presence of low levels of IgG or lower-avidity IgG in serum. This slightly increased sensitivity to the presence of IgG antibody to HSV-2 is not seen when the test is used with either venous or capillary whole-blood samples. The performance of this device with both serum and whole blood gives diagnostic sensitivity and specificity that are comparable to those of existing FDA-cleared type-specific HSV-2 ELISA and HSV-1 and -2 IB methods. Therefore, this test can be used for the rapid serodiagnosis of HSV-2 infections as well as the laboratory confirmation of serum samples that tested HSV-2 positive by different HSV-2-specific methods, such as Western blotting, ELISA, and IB.
The first FDA-cleared HSV-2 rapid test (POCkit) for whole blood and serum was described in 1999 (3). This product is classified as moderately complex by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments. The performance of the HSV-2 LFIA reported here shows equivalent performance in both sensitivity and specificity compared to those of the POCkit test (5). In addition, this test is simpler to use than the POCkit test (i.e., the POCkit test has 10 steps, whereas the HSV-2 LFIA has 2), gives a result to the patient in 15 min, and can be used in a non-laboratory environment. Its use would be a valuable addition to the spectrum of tests available for the determination of HSV-2 serostatus and has the potential to allow for more expeditious counseling and treatment of patients.
Published ahead of print on 14 November 2007. ![]()
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