Patent ID: 8476032

Claim:
A method of detection of bactericidal antibodies specific to Neisseria meningitidis in a biological sample, the method comprising: combining in a reaction mixture: viable Neisseria meningitidis expressing a surface factor H binding protein (fHbp); a biological sample from a human suspected of containing bactericidal antibodies specific to Neisseria meningitidis, a substantially purified factor H (fH) polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of a human Short Consensus Repeat 6 (SCR 6); and a complement of a non-human animal having no detectable anti- Neisseria meningitidis bactericidal activity; and detecting the presence or the absence of the bactericidal antibodies specific to the Neisseria meningitidis in the sample by assessing viability of the Neisseria meningitidis, wherein decreased viability of the Neisseria meningitidis in the presence of the sample indicates that the sample contains the bactericidal antibodies specific to the Neisseria meningitidis.