Search for cytomegalovirus-specific immunoglobulin M: comparison between a new western blot, conventional western blot, and nine commercially available assays.

We tested 101 serum samples obtained from pregnant women for the presence of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV)-specific IgM with nine different commercially available kits and with two Western blotting (WB) tests previously developed in our laboratory. The conventional WB test contains viral structural proteins separated on a gel from purified HCMV particles and transferred to nitrocellulose. The new WB test contains viral structural proteins and three recombinant proteins which contain the significant immunogenic portions of pp150 (ppUL32), pp52 (ppUL44), and p130 (pUL57). The results obtained indicate that the new WB test combines high specificity (92.5%) with high sensitivity (95.0%), characteristics that, in combination, have not been obtained with any of the other tests.