IDENTIFICATION OF SEROLOGIC MARKERS FOR SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN WITH CONGENITAL RUBELLA SYNDROME

Wednesday, 10th of December 2014

IDENTIFICATION OF SEROLOGIC MARKERS FOR SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN WITH CONGENITAL RUBELLA SYNDROME

1. Terri B. Hyde1,
2. Helena Keico Sato3,
3. LiJuan Hao1,
4. Brendan Flannery1,2,
5. Qi Zheng1,
6. Kathleen Wannemuehler1,
7. Flávia Helena Ciccone3,
8. Heloisa de Sousa Marques4,
9. Lily Yin Weckx5,
10. Marco Aurélio Sáfadi6,
11. Eliane de Oliveira Moraes10,
12. Marisa Mussi Pinhata11,
13. Jaime Olbrich Neto12,
14. Maria Cecilia Bevilacqua13,
15. Alfredo Tabith Junior7,
16. Tatiana Alves Monteiro8,
17. Cristina Adelaide Figueiredo9,
18. Jon K. Andrus2,
19. Susan E. Reef1,
20. Cristiana M. Toscano2,a,
21. Carlos Castillo-Solorzano2 and
22. Joseph P. Icenogle1
23. for the CRS Biomarker Study Groupb

1. Correspondence: Joseph Icenogle, PhD, Division of Viral Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS-C22, Atlanta, GA 30333 (jicenogle@cdc.gov).

1. ↵a Present affiliation: Federal University of Goiás, Brazil.
2. ↵b Study group members are listed at the end of the text.

Abstract below; full text is at http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/12/03/infdis.jiu604.long

Background. Congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) case identification is challenging in older children since laboratory markers of congenital rubella virus (RUBV) infection do not persist beyond age 12 months.

Methods. We enrolled children with CRS born between 1998 and 2003 and compared their immune responses to RUBV with those of their mothers and a group of similarly aged children without CRS. Demographic data and sera were collected. Sera were tested for anti–RUBV immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgG avidity, and IgG response to the 3 viral structural proteins (E1, E2, and C), reflected by immunoblot fluorescent signals.

Results. We enrolled 32 children with CRS, 31 mothers, and 62 children without CRS. The immunoblot signal strength to C and the ratio of the C signal to the RUBV-specific IgG concentration were higher (P < .029 for both) and the ratio of the E1 signal to the RUBV-specific IgG concentration lower (P = .001) in children with CRS, compared with their mothers. Compared with children without CRS, children with CRS had more RUBV-specific IgG (P < .001), a stronger C signal (P < .001), and a stronger E2 signal (P ≤ .001). Two classification rules for children with versus children without CRS gave 100% specificity with >65% sensitivity.

Conclusions.  This study was the first to establish classification rules for identifying CRS in school-aged children, using laboratory biomarkers. These biomarkers should allow improved burden of disease estimates and monitoring of CRS control programs.

• Received August 15, 2014.
• Accepted October 21, 2014.

• Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America 2014. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.