• Laboratory Medicine and Quality Assurance
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.51-69
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• 2018

As part of the immunoserology program of the Korean Association of External Quality Assessment Service, we organized two trials on the external quality assessment of hepatitis viral markers in 2016 and 2017. The hepatitis viral antigens and antibodies program consisted of 10 test items. We delivered two and three types of pooled sera specimens to 965 and 965 institutions for the first and second trials of external proficiency testing in 2016, respectively. The number of participating laboratories was 915 (94.8%) and 913 (95.0%) in the first and second trials in 2016, respectively. We also delivered three kinds of pooled sera specimens to 936 and 1,015 institutions for the first and second trials of external proficiency testing in 2017, respectively. The number of participating laboratories was 920 (98.3%) and 996 (98.1%) in the first and second trials in 2017, respectively. The most commonly tested items were hepatitis B surface antigen, followed by the antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigen, anti-hepatitis C virus, hepatitis B envelope antigen, antibodies to hepatitis B envelope antigen, anti-hepatitis A virus and antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen. The most frequently used methods for detecting viral markers were the chemiluminescence immunoassay and the electrochemiluminescence immunoassay, but they yielded a few-false positive results due to the matrix effect. The immunochromatographic assay yielded false-negative results for anti-hepatitis A virus due to low sensitivity. Continuous improvement in the quality of viral hepatitis testing through participation in the survey seems necessary.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1384-1387
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• 2005

Hantavax(R) is one of the killed Hantavirus vaccines, and is commercially available in South Korea. This vaccine was developed by inactivation of virus isolated from infected suckling mouse brain with formalin. Although Hantavax(R) can induce neutralizing antibodies in vaccinees, the strength of this induction and the duration of the humoral immune response are controversial issues. In this study, we studied the native conformation of the killed vaccine by antigen-capture reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction with patient and vaccinee sera containing neutralizing antibodies against Hantavirus. The results showed that Hantavax(R) could bind HTNV patient and vaccinee sera like live virus, suggesting that the integrity of the viral epitope is maintained in Hantavax(R) and induces the protective antibodies, even though the virus was inactivated with formalin.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.97-100
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• 2014

This study was performed in Korea to get serological information for bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1), most commonly found in cattle. Antibodies against BoHV-1 were examined by targeting infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) in unvaccinated and vaccinated cattle, using viral neutralization (VN) test. In 2013, among 261 sera collected from IBR-unvaccinated herds, 7 sera (2.7%) were found seropositive and their VN titers were ranging from 1:4 to 1:32. Among 315 sera collected from IBR-vaccinated herds in large capacity farms, 303 sera (96.2%) were found to be seropositive for BoHV-1 and their VN titers were in the range of 1:4 to 1:2048. It was found that the IBR-vaccinated herds had higher levels of VN titer than IBR-unvaccinated herds. The results indicated that it may be due to heavy vaccination in vaccinated herds and no or a little infection in unvaccinated herds. At the end of the study it was concluded that although the seropositivity in IBR-unvaccinated herds was low, the monitoring of IBR should be continuously practiced to control and prevent the disease because of exportation of living cattle causing its nationwide outbreaks.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.317-335
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• 2014

In this work, we investigate the global stability analysis of a viral infection model with antibody immune response. The incidence rate is given by a general function of the populations of the uninfected target cells, infected cells and free viruses. The model has been incorporated with two types of intracellular distributed time delays to describe the time required for viral contacting an uninfected cell and releasing new infectious viruses. We have established a set of conditions on the general incidence rate function and determined two threshold parameters $R_0$ (the basic infection reproduction number) and $R_1$ (the antibody immune response activation number) which are sufficient to determine the global dynamics of the model. The global asymptotic stability of the equilibria of the model has been proven by using Lyapunov theory and applying LaSalle's invariance principle.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.564-568
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• 2020

Although studies on Hepatitis A virus (HAV) were crucial in the establishment of the HAV infection prevention programs, no systematic investigation into HAV has been conducted since 1999. We retrospectively analyzed the data between January 2010 to December 2018 from all the patients who underwent HAV antibody tests at the Dankook University Hospital Health Care Center. Data were collected from 56,204 individuals. Overall, 34,834 (62.0%) individuals from this cohort were positive for HAV antibodies and the annual rate of anti-HAV antibody positivity was highest in 2010 (68.5%) and lowest in 2013 (54.8%). The average decline in the antibody positivity rate was 0.62% per year, showing a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001). In the over 40s age group, anti-HAV antibody positivity rates decreased from 89% in 2010 to 64% in 2018 (p < 0.001), with an annual decrease of 3.1%. In the over 30s age group, it decreased from 48.2% in 2010 to 34.7% in 2018 (p < 0.001), with an annual decrease of 1.82%. This study shows that the antibody positivity rate is decreasing across age groups but given that HAV infection poses more significant risks in older patients it is important to expand the evaluations of the current and future antibody positivity rates for HAV in various age groups.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.171-175
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• 2020

We developed and subsequently characterized mouse monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against marine birnavirus (MABV). Eight hybridoma clones secreting mAbs against MABV were established. All eight mAbs (8G6, 11C3, 15E3, 17H6, 32A6, 35A7, 38B5, and 47E3) were reacted with viral protein 3 of MABV in MABV-infected CHSE-214, whereas, no reactivity was observed in normal CHSE-214 by western blot analysis. Moreover, these eight mAbs were strongly reacted with MABV, and no cross-reactivity has been observed against other five fish viruses (hirame rhabdovirus, infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus, nervous necrosis virus, spring viraemia of carp virus, and viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus), although five mAb (11C3, 15E3, 17H6, 32A6, and 38B5) reacted with both MABV and infectious pancreatic necrosis virus by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). These results indicate that the mAbs can be of value in MABV detection.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.389-394
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• 2023

Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) is s significant viral pathogen affecting cultured rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in Korea. In this study, five monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) (IHNV-1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) were produced using purified IHNV. Reactivities of these mAbs were analyzed by western blot (WB), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT). These mAbs recognized glycoprotein (69 kDa, IHNV-1), nucleocapsid protein (39 kDa, IHNV-3, 4, and 5), or phosphoprotein (27 kDa, IHNV-2) of IHNV by WB analysis. ELISA results indicated that these five mAbs were specific to IHNV without showing any cross-reactivity against other fish viruses (hirame rhabdovirus, infectious pancreatic necrosis virus, and viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus). IFAT demonstrated specific fluorescence signals of IHNV-infected epithelioma papulosum cyprini (EPC) cells, whereas no reactivity of normal EPC cells was observed. These mAbs can be very useful for immuno-diagnosis of IHNV infection.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.537-546
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• 2015

Classical swine fever (CSF) is a highly contagious disease of pigs caused by CSF virus (CSFV). E2 is the major viral envelope protein of immune dominance that induces neutralizing antibodies and confers protection against CSFV infection. The B/C domains of E2 are variable among CSFV isolates, which could affect immunogenicity and binding to antibodies. We attempted to characterize the epitope recognized by a monoclonal antibody 2B6 (mAb-2B6) raised against the E2 B/C domains of the vaccine C-strain and to examine if mutations in the epitope region would affect antibody binding and viral neutralization. The epitope specific for mAb-2B6 recognition is linear, spanning five residues ⁷⁷⁴DGXNP⁷⁷⁸ in the B/C domains. The residue N777 is indispensable for the specificity. The epitope exists only in group 1 strains, but not in those of group 2. The recombinant viruses containing individual mutations on the epitope region lost the reactivity to mAb-2B6. The mutant virus RecC-N777S had low replication potential, about 10-fold decrease in the yield of progeny virus particles, whereas the mutant virus RecC-P778A reverted to proline upon continuous passaging. The mutations on the mAb-2B6 epitope region did not affect neutralization by anti-C-strain polyclonal sera from pigs. Deletion from aa774 covering the mAb-2B6 epitope, but not that from aa781, also affected binding with the polyclonal antibodies from vaccinated pigs, although the major binding region for the vaccinated antibodies is aa690-773.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.73-80
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• 2004

Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites which cause infection by invading and replicating within cells. The immune system has mechanisms which can attack the virus in extracellular and intracellular phase of life cycle, and which involve both non-specific and specific effectors. The survival of viruses depends on the survival of their hosts, and therefore the immune system and viruses have evolved together. Immune responses to viral infection may be variable depending on the site of infection, the mechanism of cell-to-cell spread of virus, physiology of the host, host genetic variation, and environmental condition. Viral infection of cells directly stimulates the production of interferons and they induce antiviral state in the surrounding cells. Complement system is also involved in the elimination of viruses and establishes the first line of defence with other non-specific immunity. During the course of viral infection, antibody is most effective at an early stage, especially before the virus enters its target cells. The virus- specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes are the principal effector cells in clearing established viral infections. But many viruses have resistant mechanism to host immune responses in every step of viral infection to cells. Some viruses have immune evasion mechanism and establish latency or persistency indefinitely. Furthermore antibodies to some viruses can enhance the disease by the second infection. Immune responses to viral infection are very different from those to bacterial infection.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.314-318
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• 1998

An establishment of effective control measures to PRRSV infection in swine industry depends on a sensitive and specific diagnosis to detect either viral antigen and/or antibodies to PRRSV. Several diagnostic methods are available to detect antibodies against PRRSV, including IPMA, IFA and ELISA tests have been successfully developed. Sensitivity of the indirect immunofluorescent assay in MA-104 cells using Korean field isolate PL96-1 was superior to that of VR-2332 and field isolate PL96-2. Sensitivity and specificity of the IFA test with PL96-1 were comparable to those of commercial ELISA test kit but ELISA test was more sensitive for the detection of declining antibodies to PRRSV in finishing pigs. In this study we concluded that IFA and ELISA test could be utilized to detect antibodies to PRRSV and the results generated from these two tests were comparable and there were no significant difference between these two tests.