Dados do Trabalho

Título

Potential of a new recombinant protein from Leishmania infantum for the diagnosis and prognosis of human visceral and tegumentary leishmaniasis

Introdução

It is estimated that there are 30,000 new cases of Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) and more than one million new cases of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL). The lack of accurate diagnosis limits disease control and contributes to the maintenance of the reservoir. Current immunological methods have also been used to diagnose leishmaniasis; however, variable sensitivity and/or specificity have been reported.

Objetivo (s)

Faced with the need for suitable antigens for the serological diagnosis of TL and VL, the present study aimed to evaluate the performance of a recombinant protein from Leishmania infantum, also conserved in L. braziliensis, called rLiHyQ, for the diagnosis of human leishmaniasis.

Material e Métodos

Human sera (n=305) were tested in an ELISA sensitized with rLiHyQ. This collection contained samples from patients with TL (n=50) and VL (n=40), from patients co-infected with VL/HIV (n=35), from patients infected with HIV alone (n=30), Chagas disease (n=30), malaria (n=10), tuberculosis (n=10), paracoccidioidomycosis (n=15), leprosy (n=30), or aspergillosis (n=15); and healthy subjects (n=40). To assess the possible prognostic role of the rLiHyQ antigen for leishmaniasis, antibody reactivity against the recombinant protein was investigated in samples collected from patients with VL (n=10) and TL (n=15) before treatment and six months after treatment with antimonials. The performance of the recombinant protein was compared to a parasite antigenic preparation and a commercial kit.

Resultados e Conclusão

Sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), VPP, and VPN values of 100% were observed for rLiHyQ with these samples, while Se, Sp, VPP, and VPN values with SLA were 58.0%, 76.0%, 50.0%, and 82.0%, respectively. The reactivity of the antibody against the protein was compared with commercial kits, with the kappa index ranging from 0.95 to 1.00 for rLiHyQ and from 0.55 to 0.82 for the kits. Furthermore, the serological follow-up of the treated patients showed a significant reduction in the levels of specific IgG antibodies for rLiHyQ. In conclusion, our preliminary data suggest that rLiHyQ can be considered a candidate antigen for a diagnostic role and a prognostic marker for human visceral and tegumentary leishmaniasis.

Palavras-chave

Leishmaniasis; Diagnosis; Prognosis; Recombinant Protein.

Agradecimentos

LIMT and LBAEL Teams; CAPES, CNPq, and FAPEMIG.