Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus-associated early antigens and the viral capsid antigen.

The determination of serum antibody titers to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated antigens is of diagnostic and prognostic importance in the case of patients with EBV-associated tumors, ie, Burkitt's lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and in infectious mononucleosis. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were developed for the detection of antibodies to EBV-associated early antigens (EA) and the viral-capsid antigen. The antibody titers obtained by the ELISA method correlate well with the antibody titers determined by the standard indirect immunofluorescence technique. An ELISA developed for the quantitation of early antigens in cell extracts was used to purify a protein of the EA complex. Interestingly, some of the high anti-EA titered sera, as determined by immunofluorescence, did not contain significant amounts of antibodies to this component detectable by the ELISA with immobilized partially purified protein. Anti-EA negative sera did not react with the isolated EA component.