The concentrations of murine IL-21 were determined by
capture ELISA (R&D Systems, USA), according to the manufacturer's instructions. Undetectable levels were considered zero for statistical purposes. For quantification of IgG and IgA RSV-specific antibodies in mice serum and bronchoalveolar lavage, 96-well plates were sensitized overnight with
RSV F protein (Sino Biological Inc, USA), washed and blocked for 1 h with blocking buffer (5% milk + 0.05% tween in PBS 19 buffer) and serum or bronchoalveolar lavage was added in dilutions of 1/10, 1/100, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/ 10 000 and incubated for 2 h at room temperature. Rabbit antimouse IgG or IgA antibody, both
horseradish peroxidase conjugated (Invitrogen, USA), followed by 3, 3', 5, 5' -Tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) (Life Technologies, Brazil) were used to develop the assay. Plates were read at 450 nm using an
EZ Read 400 Microplate reader (Biochrom).
An ELISA to measure the avidity of anti-RSV antibody was conducted as described above; however, plates were washed with 6 M urea-PBS. The results were expressed as an Avidity Index, which was calculated as previously described. 6 The avidity of RSV-specific total IgG was classified according to values that had been predetermined arbitrarily, defined as low (<50%), intermediate (50-70%) or high (>70%).
Gassen R.B., Fazolo T., Nascimento de Freitas D., Borges T.J., Lima K., Antunes G.L., Maito F., Bueno Mendes D.A., Báfica A., Rodrigues LC J.r., Stein R., Duarte de Souza A.P, & Bonorino C. (2021). IL-21 treatment recovers follicular helper T cells and neutralizing antibody production in respiratory syncytial virus infection. Immunology and cell biology, 99(3).