A novel polyclonal antibody against human cytomegalovirus: General characteristics and potential application in diagnosis

There is no vaccine available for human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection and the treatment is very limited; therefore, it is still an important cause of morbidity and occasional mortality in transplant recipients. An HCMV peptide was selected based on the GenBank sequence M60929. The peptide was conjugated with keyhole limpet haemocyanin and used to immunise New Zealand rabbits to prepare polyclonal antibody. After immunisation, the serum of the rabbits was obtained and purified. ELISA, immunoprecipitation and immunocytochemical staining were used to identify antibodies and antibody titre. The identification of the synthetic peptide antibody was confirmed by ELISA, immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence against HCMV Towne and AD169 strains. The antibody can be used to detect the HCMV infection by immunocytochemical staining. The synthetic peptide showed favourable immunogenicity. The serum from immunised rabbits could be used to identify HCMV AD169 and Towne strains. Future research should be directed to epitope screening of synthetic HMCV peptides, which could help to understand HCMV infection and virus-neutralising antibodies more fully and to prepare HCMV vaccines and antiviral drugs.