A new peptide for human parvovirus B19 antibody detection.

A serological assay for human parvovirus B19 was developed. Linear overlapping synthetic peptides were synthesised according to parts of open reading frames 1 and 2. A region at the N-terminus of viral protein VP2 detected serological reactivity in indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for IgG and IgM with known seropositive human sera. A cyclized peptide taken from this region, amino acids 284-307, gave the best selective reactivity with seropositive and seronegative sera. The peptide assay appears suitable for further studies of B19 infections and their complications.