IMMUNOGLOBULIN A-SPECIFIC SERODIAGNOSIS OF ACUTE HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS-INFECTION BY USING RECOMBINANT VIRAL-ANTIGENS

The immunoglobulin A-specific reactivities of recombinant viral protei ns from nine different reading frames of human cytomegalovirus were ev aluated in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay experiments. Antigen frag ments of reading frames pUL32, pUL44, and pUL57 were identified as pre ferable antigens for immunoglobulin A serodiagnosis. Application of au tologous fusion proteins which combine these polypeptides may be usefu l especially for the early detection of acute secondary human cytomega lovirus infection.