Western Blotting Using Recombinant Hantaan Virus Nucleocapsid Protein Expressed in Silkworm as a Serological Confirmation of Hantavirus Infection in Human Sera

Recombinant Hantaan virus nucleocapsid protein expressed in silkworm larvae was applied as a serological diagnostic antigen in Western blots (WB) of human sera. The sensitivity of this method was similar to that of the IFA test. Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and nephropathia epidemica diagnosed by their cross-reactivity in WB. The specificity of this method was higher than that of IFA test because the background was low. Sera that exhibited high background staining in the IFA test were readily diagnosed with this method. We recommended WB using recombinant Hantaan virus nucleocapsid antigen as a confirmatory procedure for the serodiagnosis of hantavirus.