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Immunoglobulin Class of Influenza Antibodies Investigated by Radioimmunoassay (RIA)

From the Center for Disease Control, Health Services and Mental Health Administration, United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Atlanta, Georgia 30333

Abstract

Influenza antibodies were quantitated by radioimmunoassay (RIA) binding of immunoglobulin (Ig) class-specific antibodies labeled with 125-iodine as indicators. Indicator binding values by RIA were tested by chi-square for association with hemagglutination inhibition (HI) and complement fixation (CF) titers. IgG-specific indicators for RIA had binding values which appeared to be more closely associated with HI titers than with CF titers. IgM-specific indicators appeared to be more closely related to CF titers than with HI titers. RIA indicators with combined Ig heavy chain specificity proved to be more sensitive and had a higher chi-square value when tested against both HI and CF test results than did either IgG- or IgM-specific indicators. RIA with Ig class-specific indicators has made HI and CF tests more useful in ascertaining the phase of the immune response to viral antigens. Class-specific indicators exhibited a high degree of accuracy for detecting 7S and 19S viral antibodies fractionated by sucrose density gradient ultracentrifugation. Variations in the strain of viral antigen in the RIA test revealed a predominant 7S (IgG) class of antibodies against an influenza virus which was prevalent 7 to 8 years previously. However, a predominant 19S (IgM) class of antibodies was evident when a more recent influenza strain was used for the assay. Precisely distinguishing the major Ig class of viral antibody by RIA should be helpful in determining how recently a viral infection occurred or how antigenically variable viral strains are.