Use of bacteriophage particles displaying influenza virus hemagglutinin for the detection of hemagglutination-inhibition antibodies.

Bacteriophage lambda capsids provide a flexible molecular scaffold that can be engineered to display a wide range of exogenous proteins, including full-length viral glycoproteins produced in eukaryotic cells. One application for such particles lies in the detection of virus-specific antibodies, since they may obviate the need to work with infectious stocks of highly pathogenic or emerging viruses that can pose significant biosafety and biocontainment challenges. Bacteriophage lambda capsids were produced that displayed an insect-cell derived, recombinant H5 influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) on their surface. The particles agglutinated red blood cells efficiently, in a manner that could be blocked using H5 HA-specific monoclonal antibodies. The particles were then used to develop a modified hemagglutinination-inhibition (HAI) assay, which successfully identified human sera with H5 HA-specific HAI activity. These results demonstrate the utility of HA-displaying bacteriophage capsids for the detection of influenza virus-specific HAI antibodies.