RECOMBINANT MONO AND POLY ANTIGENS TO DETECT CYTOMEGALOVIRUS-SPECIFIC IgM IN HUMAN SERA BY ENZYME IMMUNOASSAY

摘要

A mixture of recombinant mono- and poly-epitope proteic materials able to fully replace the viral antigens when used in an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) is disclosed; the mixture includes a poly-epitope fusion protein having a first region formed by an amino acid sequence (H10) corresponding to that of the last 233 amino acids of the COOH terminus of the viral protein p52 or to a part thereof, a second region formed by an amino acid sequence (F3) corresponding to that of the last 43 amino acids of the COOH terminus of viral protein pp150 or to a part thereof, and a third region formed by an amino acid sequence (A1C2) corresponding to that taken from aa 595 to aa 614, proceeding in direction 5'}3', of the same viral protein pp150; and, in combination, a second fusion protein including a sequence of amino acids corresponding to that taken, proceeding in direction 5'}3' from aa 297 to aa 510 of the viral major matrix protein pp65 encoded by the viral gene UL83 and a third fusion protein including a sequence of amino acids corresponding to that taken, proceeding in direction 5'}3', from aa 117 to aa 373 of the viral assembly protein pp38 encoded by the viral gene UL80a. These three fusion proteins may be used combined together for the preparation of an ELISA test kit for detection of Cytomegalovirus-specific Igm in human sera.