Recombinant antigens for specific and sensitive serodiagnosis of Latin American tegumentary leishmaniasis

✍ Scribed by Y. Montoya; C. Leon; M. Talledo; O. Nolasco; C. Padilla; U. Muñoz-Najar; D.C. Barker

• Book ID: 104164748
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 432 KB
• Volume: 91
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0035-9203
• DOI: 10.1016/s0035-9203(97)90520-4

✦ Synopsis

The diagnostic potential of recombinant leishmanial antigens for Latin American tegumentary leishmaniasis (LATL) was examined. Two Leishmania (Viannia) peruviana recombinant proteins, T26-U2 and T26-U4, were assessed by their reactivity to detect specific anti-leishmanial antibodies. Seventy-eight individual sera from persons with LATL, 39 from those with other diseases, and 10 negative control sera were tested by Western blotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The sensitivity of the test using T26-U2 plus T26-U4 was similar to that obtained with whole parasite extract (92%). However, the specificity obtained using both recombinant antigens (87%) was higher than that of the whole parasite extract (65%). All tests using recombinant proteins (T26-U2, T26-U2 plus T26-U4 or T26-U4) had a higher positive predictive value (89%, 92% and 98%, respectively) than the value obtained using total parasites (8 1%). Eleven Colombian sera were also tested, and the results indicated thatT26-U2 plus T26-U4 could be used successfully in Peru and in other Latin American countries.