Development of an antigen-capture ELISA for the detection of avian leukosis virus p27 antigen

An antigen-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (AC-ELISA) employing monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies against p27 was developed for the detection of the avian leukosis virus (ALV). The specificity of the optimized AC-ELISA was evaluated using avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J), avian leukosis virus subgroup A (ALV-A), avian leukosis virus subgroup B (ALV-B), avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), Marek's disease virus (MDV), avian infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV), Fowlpox virus (FPV), infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), Newcastle disease virus (NDV), avian reovirus (ARV), reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV), avian influenza virus (AIV) and Escherichia coli. The only specimens that yielded a strong signal were ALV-J, ALV-A and ALV-B, indicating that this assay is suitable for the detection of ALV. The limit of detection of this assay was 1.25 ng/ml of rp27 protein and 101.79 TCID50 units of HLJ09MDJ-1 (ALV-J). Moreover, this AC-ELISA can detect ALV in cloacal swabs of chickens experimentally infected as early as 12 days post-infection. The AC-ELISA detected the virus in the albumin and cloacal swabs of naturally infected chickens, and the results were confirmed by PCR, indicating that the AC-ELISA was a suitable method for the detection of ALV. This test is rapid and sensitive and could be convenient for epidemiological studies and eradication programs.