Publication date: Aug 07, 2026
Nipah virus (NiV) is a highly lethal zoonotic henipavirus that causes severe respiratory disease and encephalitis and remains a priority pathogen for outbreak preparedness. Timely diagnosis is essential for containment, yet nucleic acid-based testing is often impractical in outbreak-prone, resource-limited settings. Here, we report the development of a rapid antigen test for NiV based on a cellulose nanobead (CNB)-enhanced lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) targeting the viral nucleocapsid protein (NP). Anti-NiV NP antibodies were isolated from human synthetic phage-display libraries (scFv and Fab) by iterative bio-panning, reformatted as full-length IgGs, and screened using ELISA and immunofluorescence assays. Four lead antibodies were advanced to a sandwich-pairing matrix, which identified an optimized capture-detection configuration (mAb #5 as capture; mAb #2 as detection). Bio-layer interferometry confirmed nanomolar binding affinities for the selected antibodies (K = 39. 50 nM for mAb #5; K = 26. 36 nM for mAb #2). The finalized CNB-LFIA produced results within 15 min and achieved an analytical limit of detection of 1 ng/mL for recombinant NiV NP. The assay observed no cross-reactivity with SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, or influenza A, whereas weak cross-reactivity for measles virus NP was observed only at a high antigen concentration (2 ug/mL). Using γ-irradiated cultured NiV quantified by RT-ddPCR, the LFIA detected viral load down to 4. 1 cD7 10 copies/mL (4. 1 cD7 10⁶ copies/reaction) by a portable reader and 8. 3 cD7 10 copies/mL (8. 3 cD7 10⁶ copies/reaction) by the naked eye. Collectively, this CNB-LFIA provides rapid, equipment-free NiV detection, supporting its potential utility for point-of-care diagnosis in resource-limited settings.
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| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Immunofluorescence | Lateral flow immunoassay |
| Inactivated | Nipah virus |
| Influenza | Nucleocapsid |
| Lethal | Phage display |
| Zoonotic | Point-of-care diagnostics |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | encephalitis |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Microcrystalline cellulose |
| pathway | KEGG | Influenza A |
| disease | MESH | measles |
| pathway | KEGG | Measles |