Recombinant Leishmania infantum heat shock protein 83 for the serodiagnosis of cutaneous, mucosal, and visceral leishmaniases

Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2014 May;90(5):860-865. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.13-0623. Epub 2014 Mar 10.

Abstract

Routine serological diagnoses for leishmaniases, except in visceral cases, are performed using whole-parasite antigens. We used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to evaluate the performance of Leishmania infantum rHsp83 compared with L. major-like total promastigote antigen in the diagnosis of cutaneous (CL), mucosal (ML), and visceral leishmaniases (VL). ELISA-rHsp83 was significantly more sensitive than ELISA-L. major-like when considering either CL/ML (P = 0.041) or all leishmaniasis patients (P = 0.013). When samples from other infectious disease patients were evaluated for cross-reactivity, ELISA-rHsp83 was more specific than ELISA-L. major-like, specifically for Chagas disease samples (P < 0.001). We also evaluated the anti-rHsp83 antibody titers months after treatment and observed no significant difference in ML (P = 0.607) or CL (P = 0.205). We recommend ELISA-L. infantum-rHsp83 as a routine confirmatory serological assay for the diagnosis of Leishmania infection because of the high sensitivity, the specificity, and the insignificant cross-reactivity with other infectious diseases.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies, Protozoan / immunology
  • Antigens, Protozoan / immunology*
  • Chagas Disease / diagnosis
  • Chagas Disease / immunology
  • Cross Reactions
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Heat-Shock Proteins / analysis*
  • Humans
  • Leishmania infantum / isolation & purification
  • Leishmaniasis / diagnosis*
  • Leishmaniasis / immunology
  • Protozoan Proteins / analysis*
  • Recombinant Proteins / analysis*
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Serologic Tests

Substances

  • Antibodies, Protozoan
  • Antigens, Protozoan
  • Heat-Shock Proteins
  • Hsp83 protein, protozoan
  • Protozoan Proteins
  • Recombinant Proteins