Development of an indirect ELISA to specifically detect antibodies against African swine fever virus: bioinformatics approaches

Background African swine fever (ASF), characterized by acute, severe, and fast-spreading, is a highly lethal swine infectious disease caused by the African swine fever virus (ASFV), which has caused substantial economic losses to the pig industry worldwide in the past 100 years. Methods This study started with bioinformatics methods and verified the epitope fusion protein method's reliability that does not rely on traditional epitope identification. Meanwhile, it will also express and purify the constructed genes through prokaryotic expression and establish antibody detection methods. Results The results indicated that the protein had good reactivity and did not cross-react with other swine diseases. The receiver-operating characteristic analysis was performed to verify the determination. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve was 0.9991 (95% confidence interval 0.9973 to 1.001). Conclusions It was proved that the recombinant protein is feasible as a diagnostic antigen to distinguish ASFV and provides a new idea for ASFV antibody detection.

Automated summary

This study validated the reliability of the non-traditional epitope fusion protein method, established a diagnostic antigen to distinguish ASFV, and provided a new idea for ASFV antibody detection. The recombinant protein showed good reactivity and specificity, with a high area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve of 0.9991.