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. 2004 Dec;42(12):5885-8.
doi: 10.1128/JCM.42.12.5885-5888.2004.

False-positive results in a recombinant severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) nucleocapsid enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay due to HCoV-OC43 and HCoV-229E rectified by Western blotting with recombinant SARS-CoV spike polypeptide

Patrick C Y Woo  1 , Susanna K P Lau, Beatrice H L Wong, Kwok-Hung Chan, Wai-Ting Hui, Grace S W Kwan, J S Malik Peiris, Robert B Couch, Kwok-Yung Yuen
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False-positive results in a recombinant severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) nucleocapsid enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay due to HCoV-OC43 and HCoV-229E rectified by Western blotting with recombinant SARS-CoV spike polypeptide

Patrick C Y Woo et al. J Clin Microbiol. 2004 Dec.

Retraction in

Abstract

Using paired serum samples obtained from patients with illness associated with increases in anti-human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43) or anti-HCoV-229E antibodies, we examined the possibility of false-positive results detected in a recombinant severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) nucleocapsid protein immunoglobulin G enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Three of the 21 and 1 of the 7 convalescent-phase serum samples from persons with increases in antibodies against HCoV-OC43 and HCoV-229E, respectively, tested positive by the recombinant SARS-CoV nucleocapsid protein-based ELISA. None of these samples were found to contain a specific antibody in the recombinant SARS-CoV spike polypeptide-based Western blot assay.

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Recombinant SARS-CoV nucleocapsid protein-based IgG antibody ELISA for serum samples positive for the anti-HCoV-OC43 or anti-HCoV-229E antibody.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
Western blot analysis of purified recombinant SARS-CoV nucleocapsid protein (A) and spike polypeptide (B) using human sera that tested positive by the recombinant SARS-CoV nucleocapsid protein-based IgG antibody ELISA. Two of the three serum samples with the anti-HCoV-OC43 antibody (lanes 1 to 3) and the serum sample with the anti-HCoV-229E antibody (lanes 4) produced very faint bands in the recombinant SARS-CoV nucleocapsid protein-based Western blot assay, but not the recombinant SARS-CoV spike polypeptide-based Western blot assays. Also shown are a positive control using serum of a patient with SARS-CoV pneumonia (lanes 5) and a negative control using serum of a healthy blood donor (lanes 6).
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