Published in:
Open Access
01-12-2019 | Zika Virus | Research article
Immune reactivity to Trypanosoma cruzi chimeric proteins for Chagas disease diagnosis in immigrants living in a non-endemic setting
Authors:
Eva Dopico, Rodrigo Pimenta Del-Rei, Bertha Espinoza, Itziar Ubillos, Nilson Ivo Tonin Zanchin, Elena Sulleiro, Zaira Moure, Paola Alejandra Fiorani Celedon, Wayner Vieira Souza, Edimilson Domingos da Silva, Yara Miranda Gomes, Fred Luciano Neves Santos
Published in:
BMC Infectious Diseases
|
Issue 1/2019
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Abstract
Background
Chronic Chagas Disease (CD) diagnosis is based on serological methods employing crude, semipurified or recombinant antigens, which may result in low sensitivity or cross-reactivity. To reduce these restrictions, we developed a strategy involving use of molecules containing repetitive fragments of Trypanosoma cruzi conserved proteins. Diagnostic performance of IBMP-8.1 and IBMP-8.4 chimeric antigens (Molecular Biology Institute of Paraná - IBMP in Portuguese acronym) was assessed to diagnose T. cruzi-infected and non-infected immigrants living in Barcelona (Spain), a non-endemic setting for Chagas disease.
Methods
Reactivity of IBMP-8.1 and IBMP-8.4 was assessed using an in-house automated ELISA with 347 positive and 331 negative individuals to Chagas disease. Antigenic cross-reactivity was measured with sera samples from pregnant women with Toxoplasma gondii (n = 98) and Zika virus (n = 75) antibodies.
Results
The area under the curve values was 1 and 0.99 for the IBMP-8.1 and IBMP-8.4 proteins, respectively, demonstrating excellent diagnostic accuracy. The reactivity index was higher for IBMP-8.1 than IBMP-8.4 in positive samples and no significant difference in reactivity index was observed in negative samples. Sensitivity ranged from 99.4% for IBMP-8.1 to 99.1% for IBMP-8.4 and was not statistically different. Specificity for IBMP-8.1 reached 100 and 99.7% for IBMP-8.4, both nearly 100% accurate. No antigenic cross-reactivity was observed and reactivity index was similar to that for negative Chagas disease individuals.
Conclusions
Our results showed an outstanding performance of IBMP-8.1 and IBMP-8.4 chimeric antigens by ELISA and suggest both chimeric antigens could also be used for Chagas disease diagnosis in immigrants living in non-endemic settings.