Title
Evaluation of Leishmania infantum pyridoxal kinase protein for the diagnosis of human and canine visceral leishmaniasis
Date Issued
01 April 2020
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Oliveira-da-Silva J.A.
Machado A.S.
Ramos F.F.
Tavares G.S.V.
Lage D.P.
Ludolf F.
Steiner B.T.
Reis T.A.R.
Santos T.T.O.
Costa L.E.
Martins V.T.
Galvani N.C.
Chaves A.T.
Oliveira J.S.
de Magalhães-Soares D.F.
Duarte M.C.
Menezes-Souza D.
Silveira J.A.G.
Moreira R.L.F.
Machado-de-Ávila R.A.
Tupinambás U.
Gonçalves D.U.
Coelho E.A.F.
Publisher(s)
Elsevier B.V.
Abstract
Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a highly neglected disease that is present in several countries worldwide. Present-day treatments against this disease are unsuitable, mainly due to the toxicity and/or high cost of drugs. In addition, the development of vaccines is still insufficient. In this scenario, a prompt VL diagnosis was deemed necessary, although sensitivity and/or specificity values of the tests have been. In this context, new antigenic candidates should be identified to be employed in a more precise diagnosis of canine and human VL. In this light, the present study evaluated the diagnostic efficacy of the Leishmania infantum pyridoxal kinase (PK) protein, applied in its recombinant version (rPK). In addition, one specific B-cell epitope derived of the PK sequence was predicted, synthetized, and evaluated as diagnostic marker. Results in ELISA tests showed that the antigens were highly sensitive to VL identification in dogs and human sera, presenting a low reactivity with VL-related disease samples. The recombinant A2 (rA2) protein and L. infantum antigenic preparation (SLA), used as controls, also proved to be highly sensitive in detecting symptomatic cases, although a low sensitivity was found when asymptomatic sera were analyzed. High cross-reactivity was also found when these antigens were evaluated against VL-related disease samples. The post-therapeutic serological follow-up showed that anti-rPK and anti-peptide IgG antibody levels decreased in significant levels after treatment. By contrast, the presence of high levels of the anti-rA2 and anti-SLA antibodies was still detected after therapy. In conclusion, rPK and its specific B-cell epitope should be considered for future studies as a diagnostic marker for canine and human VL.
Start page
11
End page
20
Volume
220
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Inmunología Tecnología para la identificación y funcionamiento del ADN, proteínas y enzimas y como influencian la enfermedad) Parasitología
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85078132565
PubMed ID
Source
Immunology Letters
ISSN of the container
01652478
Sponsor(s)
The authors would like to thank CAPES and CNPq for the fellowships. This work was supported by grants from CNPq ( APQ-408675/2018-7 ).
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus