02041nas a2200361   4500000000100000008004100001260001600042653003300058100001300091700001400104700001200118700001500130700001500145700001500160700001500175700001500190700001300205700002000218700002500238700001500263700001500278700002500293700002500318700002200343700001800365700001300383700001600396700001400412700002200426245015800448520105900606022001401665       2024                            d  bElsevier BV10arecombinant chimeric antigen1 aAssis BP1 aChaves AT1 aLage DP1 aCardoso MM1 aPereira IA1 aCâmara RS1 aFreitas CS1 aMartins VT1 aLudolf F1 ade Oliveira ALG1 aOliveira-da-Silva JA1 aTavares GS1 aGaldino AS1 aChávez-Fumagalli MA1 aMachado-de-Ávila RA1 aChristodoulides M1 aGonçalves DU1 aBueno LL1 aFujiwara RT1 aCoelho EA1 ada Costa Rocha MO00aA recombinant chimeric antigen constructed with B-cell epitopes from Mycobacterium leprae hypothetical proteins is effective for the diagnosis of leprosy3 a<p>The diagnosis if leprosy is difficult, as it requires clinical expertise and sensitive laboratory tests. In this study, we develop a serological test for leprosy by using bioinformatics tools to identify specific B-cell epitopes from&nbsp;<em>Mycobacterium leprae</em>&nbsp;hypothetical proteins, which were used to construct a recombinant chimeric protein, M1. The synthetic peptides were obtained and showed good reactivity to detect leprosy patients, although the M1 chimera have showed sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp) values higher than 90.0% to diagnose both paucibacillary (PB) and multibacillary (MB) leprosy patients, but not those developing tegumentary or visceral leishmaniasis, tuberculosis, Chagas disease, malaria, histoplasmosis and aspergillosis, in ELISA experiments. Using sera from household contacts, values for Se and Sp were 100% and 65.3%, respectively. In conclusion, our proof-of-concept study has generated data that suggest that a new recombinant protein could be developed into a diagnostic antigen for leprosy.</p>
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