A recombinant chimeric antigen constructed with B-cell epitopes from Mycobacterium leprae hypothetical proteins is effective for the diagnosis of leprosy

• Published in: Diagnostic microbiology and infectious disease Vol. 109; no. 3; p. 116338
• Main Authors: Assis, Bárbara P.N., Chaves, Ana T., Lage, Daniela P., Cardoso, Mariana M., Pereira, Isabela A.G., Câmara, Raquel S.B., Freitas, Camila S., Martins, Vívian T., Ludolf, Fernanda, de Oliveira, Ana Laura G., Oliveira-da-Silva, João A., Tavares, Grasiele S.V., Galdino, Alexsandro S., Chávez-Fumagalli, Miguel A., Machado-de-Ávila, Ricardo A., Christodoulides, Myron, Gonçalves, Denise U., Bueno, Lílian L., Fujiwara, Ricardo T., Coelho, Eduardo A.F., da Costa Rocha, Manoel Otávio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.07.2024
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Antibodies, Bacterial - blood; Antibodies, Bacterial - immunology; Antigens, Bacterial - genetics; Antigens, Bacterial - immunology; B-cell epitopes; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacterial Proteins - immunology; Chimeric protein; Computational Biology - methods; Diagnosis; ELISA; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay - methods; Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte - genetics; Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte - immunology; Female; Humans; Leprosy; Leprosy - diagnosis; Leprosy - immunology; Male; Middle Aged; Mycobacterium leprae - genetics; Mycobacterium leprae - immunology; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - genetics; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - immunology; Sensitivity; Sensitivity and Specificity; Serologic Tests - methods; Young Adult; B-cell epitopes; Leprosy; Sensitivity; Chimeric protein; Diagnosis; ELISA
• ISSN: 0732-8893; 1879-0070
• DOI: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2024.116338

•B-cell epitopes from specific M. leprae hypothetical proteins were predicted.•They were used to construct a novel recombinant chimeric protein, M1.•M1 antigen was tested in ELISA experiments for the leprosy diagnosis.•High sensitivity and specificity was found to both pauci- and multibacillary forms.•This new antigen could be considered as a candidate for the diagnosis of disease. 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 Mycobacterium leprae 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. [Display omitted]