Background: Neurocysticercosis (NCC), and cystic echinococcosis (CE) are two neglected diseases caused by cestodes, co-endemic in many areas of the world. Imaging studies and serological tests are used in the diagnosis of both parasitic diseases, but cross-reactions may confound the results of the latter. The novel multiplex bead-based assay with recombinant antigens has been reported to increases the diagnostic accuracy of serological techniques.
Methodology: We set-up an immunoassay based on the multiplex bead-based platform (MBA), using the rT24H (against Cysticercus cellulosae, causing cysticercosis) and r2B2t (against Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato, causing CE) recombinant antigens, for simultaneous and differential diagnosis of these infections. The antigens were tested on 356 sera from 151 patients with CE, 126 patients with NCC, and 79 individuals negative for both diseases. Specificity was calculated including sera from healthy donors, other neurological diseases and the respective NCC or CE sera counterpart. The diagnostic accuracy of this assay was compared with two commercial ELISA tests, Novalisa and Ridascreen, widely used in the routine diagnosis of cysticercosis and CE, respectively.
Main findings: For the diagnosis of NCC, sensitivity ranged from 57.94-63.49% for the rT24H-MBA, and 40.48-46.03% for Novalisa ELISA depending on exclusion or inclusion of sera having equivocal results on ELISA from the analysis; specificities ranged from 90.87-91.30% and 70.43-76.96%, respectively. AUC values of the ROC curve were 0.783 (rT24H) and 0.619 (Novalisa) (p-value < 0.001). For the diagnosis of CE, the sensitivity of the r2B2t-MBA ranged from 68.87-69.77% and of Ridascreen ELISA from 50.00-57.62%; specificities from 92.47-92.68% and from 74.15-80.98%, respectively. AUC values were 0.717 and 0.760, respectively.
Conclusions/significance: Overall, the recombinant antigens tested with the bead-based technology showed better diagnostic accuracy than the commercial assays, particularly for the diagnosis of NCC. The possibility of testing the same serum sample simultaneously for the presence of antibodies against both antigens is an added value particularly in seroprevalence studies for cysticercosis linked to control programs in endemic areas where these two parasites coexist.