Antibodies to Human Coronavirus OC43 Measured by Radial Haemolysis in Gel

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Abstract
An application of the hemolysis-in-gel (HIG) technique was developed to quantiate antibodies against the human coronavirus OC43. Preinfection and convalescent sera from 2 patients with verified OC43 infection showed a significant increase in antibody titers measured by HIG and hemagglutination-inhibition (HI). Of the other 306 sera tested, 241 (80%) caused radial hemolysis in gels containing viral antigen-sensitized erythrocytes and complement. No hemolysis was seen in gels prepared with uninfected material. Correlation of the diameter of the hemolysis ring to the respective HI titer was highly significant. However, 62 sera (20%) with HI titers from 8-320 were negative in the HIG. Attempts to show that these sera contained nonspecific inhibitors of hemagglutination were unsuccessful. OC43 HI and HIG probably measure different antibody populations.