Evaluation of a synthetic peptide from the Taenia saginata 18kDa surface/secreted oncospheral adhesion protein for serological diagnosis of bovine cysticercosis

• Published in: Acta tropica 2016-12, Vol.164, p.463-468
• Main Authors: Guimarães-Peixoto, Rafaella Paola Meneguete, Pinto, Paulo Sérgio Arruda, Santos, Marcus Rebouças, Polêto, Marcelo Depólo, Silva, Letícia Ferreira, Silva-Júnior, Abelardo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Antibodies, Helminth - immunology; Antigens, Helminth - immunology; Bovine cysticercosis; Brazil; Cattle; Cattle Diseases - diagnosis; Cysticercosis - diagnosis; ELISA; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay - methods; Humans; Membrane Proteins; Oncospheric protein; Sensitivity and Specificity; Serologic Tests; Synthetic peptides; Taenia saginata; Taenia saginata - immunology
• ISSN: 0001-706X; 1873-6254
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2016.10.008

[Display omitted] •Serodiagnosis of bovine cysticerosis is based on newly identified antigen.•The synthetic peptide has high diagnostic potential for detecting bovine cysticercosis.•ELISA based on the EP1 peptide yielded in 91.6% sensitivity and 90% specificity. Bovine cysticercosis is a zoonotic infection widely spread throughout Brazil, creating a burden on hygiene maintenance and the economy. Diagnosis of cysticercosis usually relies on post mortem inspection of carcasses in slaughterhouses. This detection method provides only low sensitivity. Recent advancements have improved the performance of serologic tests, such as ELISA, providing greater sensitivity and specificity. The objective of the current study was to identify and evaluate a synthetic peptide derived from the Taenia saginata 18kDa oncospheric surface protein for the diagnosis of bovine cysticercosis in ELISA. Test performance of the identified peptide was compared to an ELISA based on a heterologous crude Taenia crassiceps antigen (Tcra), widely used for the sero-diagnosis of bovine cysticercosis. Based on the primary sequence of an in silico structural model of the 18kDa protein, an epitope region designated EP1 was selected (46-WDTKDMAGYGVKKIEV-61). The peptide derived from this region yielded 91.6% (CI=80–96%) sensitivity and 90% (CI=82–95%) specificity when used in an ELISA, whereas the crude antigen yielded 70% (CI=56–8%) sensitivity and 82% (CI=73–89%) specificity. Thus, we conclude that EP1 has higher diagnostic potential for detecting bovine cysticercosis than the crude antigen Tcra.