Development of a method for assessing the structural heterogeneity of a population of different strains of tick-borne encephalitis virus

Abstract

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is widespread in Europe and Asia and causes severe neurological disease in humans. It has been established that the reproduction of flaviviruses leads to the accumulation of a whole set of non-infectious viral structures aside from infectious virions. These structures include immature virions, empty forms (containing no genome) and aggregates of the surface protein E. These structures, despite being non-infectious, are able to influence the immune response and, consequently, the pathogenesis of TBEV infection. The aim of this work was to select a set of methods which can be implemented to identify these differences. Methods. Virus samples were analised for protein E concentration, number of genome-containing particles and infectivity. The total concentration of protein E in samples was evaluated using ELISA. The number of genome-containing particles was determined by a real-time PCR, and to assess the number of infectious virus particles titration in PEK cell culture was used. Results. An assay for total concentration of protein E in culture fluid of cells infected with different strains of TBEV based on the commertially available ELISA kit was developed. TBEV strains used in the study varied by the ratio of genome-containing particles to infectious virions. The amount of protein E not associated with genome-containing virions was calculated as a difference between total content of protein E and the amount of protein E bound to genome-containing particles. This amount was also different for studied samples of TBEV strains. Conclusion. No correlation was observed between the increased content of non-infectious genome-containing particles or the amount of residual protein E and TBEV subtypes.