Neutralization enzyme immunoassay for influenza virus.

A neutralization enzyme immunoassay (N-EIA) was developed for the detection of antibody titer rises in sera of patients infected with influenza A (H3N2) virus. In this N-EIA, a selected strain of influenza A (H3N2) virus was added to monolayers of LLC-MK2 cells in microtiter plates. After 24 h, the replicated virus could be demonstrated with a virus-specific enzyme-labeled monoclonal antibody. Preincubation of the influenza virus with convalescent-phase sera of patients infected with influenza A (H3N2) virus resulted 1 day later in decreased absorbance values that could be used for calculation of neutralization titers. From use of paired serum samples from 10 patients with a history of flu-like symptoms, the results obtained with N-EIA correlated well (r = 0.83) with those of the standard hemagglutination inhibition test.