TY - JOUR
KW - recombinant chimeric antigen
AU - Assis BP
AU - Chaves AT
AU - Lage DP
AU - Cardoso MM
AU - Pereira IA
AU - Câmara RS
AU - Freitas CS
AU - Martins VT
AU - Ludolf F
AU - de Oliveira ALG
AU - Oliveira-da-Silva JA
AU - Tavares GS
AU - Galdino AS
AU - Chávez-Fumagalli MA
AU - Machado-de-Ávila RA
AU - Christodoulides M
AU - Gonçalves DU
AU - Bueno LL
AU - Fujiwara RT
AU - Coelho EA
AU - da Costa Rocha MO
AB - <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>

BT - Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease
DO - 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2024.116338
LA - Eng
N2 - <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>

PB - Elsevier BV
PY - 2024
T2 - Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease
TI - A recombinant chimeric antigen constructed with B-cell epitopes from Mycobacterium leprae hypothetical proteins is effective for the diagnosis of leprosy
SN - 0732-8893
ER -