A Comparison of the Reactivity of Polivirus Complement-Fixing Antigens (Native, Heated and Sucrose Density Gradient C and D) with Human Sera

Acute- and convalescent-phase serum speciments from poliomyelitis patients were tested in parallel against crude untreated (native), crude heated and sucrose density gradient-purified C and D complement-fixing antigens of the three poliovirus types. The native antigens were somewhat superior to the D antigens for detecting the occurrence of diagnostically significant rises in antibody titer, but the homotypic and heterotypic antibody titers against both the native and D antigens showed fairly good correlation indicating that the native antigens produced in HeLa cells consisted largely of D antigen. Age and prior vaccination (Salk vaccine) exerted a similar influence on antibody titers to the native and D antigens in that older patients showed fewer significant increases in antibody level than did younger patients and vaccinated patients showed rises in antibody of lower magnitude than did nonvaccinated patients. Titers to the heated and C antigens were similar with the exception that type 3 heated antigen showed greater heterotypic activity than did type 3C antigen. For diagnostic purposes purified D antigens were not found to possess any advantages over crude native antigens that would warrant the extra time and manipulations involved in their preparation.