Towards a more precise serological diagnosis of human tegumentary leishmaniasis using Leishmania recombinant proteins

PLoS One. 2013 Jun 12;8(6):e66110. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0066110. Print 2013.

Abstract

Background: Exposure to Leishmania induces a humoral immune response that can be used as a marker of parasite exposure.

Methodology/principal findings: Herein, ELISA was used to screen sera from patients with Tegumentary Leishmaniasis (TL) against different L. infantum-chagasi-derived recombinant proteins (rHSP70, rH2A, rH2B, rH3, rH4 and rKMP11). Among the recombinant proteins, rHSP70 and rH2A showed the best reactivity against human sera obtained from endemic areas of TL. Receiver-Operator Characteristics (ROC) curve analysis was used to identify the effectiveness of these proteins for serodiagnosis of TL. ROC curves confirmed the superior performance of rHSP70 and rH2A, in comparison to the other tested recombinant proteins. Additionally, we evaluated the specificity of the response to rHSP70 and rH2A by testing sera obtained from patients with Chagas' disease, Tuberculosis, Leprosy or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. In this case, rHSP70 displayed an increased ability to discriminate diseases, in comparison to SLA.

Conclusion: Our results raise possibility of using rHSP70 for the serodiagnosis of TL.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Leishmania / genetics
  • Leishmania / immunology*
  • Leishmaniasis / blood*
  • Leishmaniasis / diagnosis*
  • Oligonucleotides / genetics
  • Protozoan Proteins*
  • ROC Curve
  • Recombinant Proteins*
  • Serologic Tests / methods*
  • Statistics, Nonparametric

Substances

  • HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins
  • Oligonucleotides
  • Protozoan Proteins
  • Recombinant Proteins

Grants and funding

The research and publication process was supported by grants from from Pronex: CNPq/FAPESB. This study was in part supported in Spain by grant FIS PI11/00095 from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. APS received fellowship from CNPq. JML, CIO, MB-N and AB are senior investigators from CNPq. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.