Cellular & molecular immunology
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Cell. Mol. Immunol. · Aug 2004
Cross-reaction of SARS-CoV antigen with autoantibodies in autoimmune diseases.
To investigate the significance of the SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) antibody, detected by ELISA and indirect immunofluorescence assays (IFA) for the SARS-CoV Vero E6 cell lysates, in non-SARS subjects, 114 serum samples from healthy controls and 104 serum specimens from autoimmune disease patients were collected. The results of ELISA showed that among 114 sera from healthy controls, 4 (3.5%) were positive of SARS-CoV-IgG antibody and 114 (100%) were all negative of SARS-CoV-IgM antibody; the specificity of SARS-CoV-IgG antibody for SARS patients was 96.5%, but the specificity of both SARS-CoV-IgG and -IgM antibodies for SARS patients was 100%. ⋯ All sera for negative or positive ELISA results were also negative or positive results using ELISA with Vero E6 cells lysates. These studies showed that SARS-CoV Vero E6 cell lysates for the ELISA to detect SARS-CoV antibodies could lead to the false-positive reactions or cross-reactions of SARS-CoV antibodies in non-SARS diseases and healthy controls, and the false-positive reactions or cross-reactions were related to Vero E6 cell lysates and autoantibodies in non-SARS population.