Characteristics of distributions of serum neutralizing antibodies to human rhinovirus genotype A21 / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective@#Human rhinovirus A21 (HRVA21) with mutations in antigenic gene has been reported causing severe human infections. This study aimed to investigate intensively the pathogenesis of HRVA21 by identifying the characteristics of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) distribution.@*Methods@#Virus stock was isolated from HRVA21-positive respiratory specimens. The tissue culture infective dose 50 (TCID50) was applied. Sera from healthy volunteers in different age groups were used to analyze the NAbs by using the diluted serum and fixed viral TCID50.@*Results@#We obtained the HRVA21 virus stock and its whole genome sequences shared 100% similarity to the used clinical sample. In the 379 collected serum samples, the positive rates of NAbs were 21.7%, 14.1%, 28.2%, 25.4%, 27.9% and 20.7% in age groups of 0-5 y, 5-14 y, 15-25 y, 26-45 y, 46-60 y and > 60 y, respectively. In age groups of >5-14 y and 15-25 y, the positive rate of NAbs showed significantly different (χ2=4.68454, P=0.03044). Higher geometric mean titers were found in 15-25 y group compared to 5-14 y age groups (P=0.0313).@*Conclusions@#The low level of HRVA21 NAbs in different age groups indicated a low epidemic of HRV21 infection and high susceptability to infections by the virus.