TY - JOUR
T1 - Performance of Leishmania PFR1 recombinant antigen in serological diagnosis of asymptomatic canine leishmaniosis by ELISA
AU - Ledesma, D
AU - Berriatua, E
AU - Thomas, MC
AU - Bernal, LJ
AU - Ortuna, M
AU - Benitez, C
AU - Egui, A
AU - Papasouliotis, K
AU - Tennant, B
AU - Chambers, J
AU - Infante, JJ
AU - Lopez, MC
PY - 2017/10/23
Y1 - 2017/10/23
N2 - Background: Leishmania infantum is a protozoan parasite transmitted by phlebotomine sand flies that causes
life-threatening disease in humans and dogs. The dog is the primary reservoir of the parasite and early diagnosis
of canine leishmaniosis is crucial at the clinical and epidemiological level. The currently available serological tests
for CanL diagnostic show limitations therefore the aim of the present study was to investigate the diagnostic
performance of an indirect antibody ELISA based on the Leishmania infantum recombinant antigen PFR1 in
asymptomatically infected dogs. One hundred fifty-six dogs including Leishmania-free experimental Beagles and
pet dogs from England, Scotland and Leishmania-endemic Murcia in Spain, were tested with the assay. The later
were also tested with two commercial L. infantum crude antigen ELISAs (INgezim and Civtest, respectively) and
a real-time kinetoplast PCR test.
Results: Anti-PFR1 antibodies were detected in the four groups of dogs, and the mean log-transformed optical
density (OD) values were lowest in Beagles and in dogs from England and highest among dogs from Murcia
(p < 0.05). Using the highest OD in beagles as the PFR1 ELISA cut-off point, the estimated seroprevalence was
27% (14-40%) in dogs from Murcia, 4% (0-9%) in dogs from Scotland and 3% (0-8%) in dogs from England
(p < 0.05). Seroprevalence in dogs from Murcia according to the INgezim and Civtest ELISAs were 24% (12-37%)
and 31% (18-45%), respectively, whilst the prevalence of infection based on PCR in these dogs was 73% (60-86).
The percentages of PFR1-positive dogs that tested negative on the INgezim and Civtest ELISAs were 30% and
35%, respectively, and all of them tested positive on the PCR test. Relative to the PCR, the specificity, sensitivity
and area under the ROC curve of the PFR1 ELISA were 100%, 36% and 0.74 (0.63-0.86), respectively.
Conclusions: The ability shown by the PFR1 ELISA to detect infected dogs that go undetected by the crude antigen
ELISAs is clinically and epidemiologically useful and PFR1 could be considered a candidate for a multi-antigen-based
immunoassay for early detection of L. infantum infected dogs.
AB - Background: Leishmania infantum is a protozoan parasite transmitted by phlebotomine sand flies that causes
life-threatening disease in humans and dogs. The dog is the primary reservoir of the parasite and early diagnosis
of canine leishmaniosis is crucial at the clinical and epidemiological level. The currently available serological tests
for CanL diagnostic show limitations therefore the aim of the present study was to investigate the diagnostic
performance of an indirect antibody ELISA based on the Leishmania infantum recombinant antigen PFR1 in
asymptomatically infected dogs. One hundred fifty-six dogs including Leishmania-free experimental Beagles and
pet dogs from England, Scotland and Leishmania-endemic Murcia in Spain, were tested with the assay. The later
were also tested with two commercial L. infantum crude antigen ELISAs (INgezim and Civtest, respectively) and
a real-time kinetoplast PCR test.
Results: Anti-PFR1 antibodies were detected in the four groups of dogs, and the mean log-transformed optical
density (OD) values were lowest in Beagles and in dogs from England and highest among dogs from Murcia
(p < 0.05). Using the highest OD in beagles as the PFR1 ELISA cut-off point, the estimated seroprevalence was
27% (14-40%) in dogs from Murcia, 4% (0-9%) in dogs from Scotland and 3% (0-8%) in dogs from England
(p < 0.05). Seroprevalence in dogs from Murcia according to the INgezim and Civtest ELISAs were 24% (12-37%)
and 31% (18-45%), respectively, whilst the prevalence of infection based on PCR in these dogs was 73% (60-86).
The percentages of PFR1-positive dogs that tested negative on the INgezim and Civtest ELISAs were 30% and
35%, respectively, and all of them tested positive on the PCR test. Relative to the PCR, the specificity, sensitivity
and area under the ROC curve of the PFR1 ELISA were 100%, 36% and 0.74 (0.63-0.86), respectively.
Conclusions: The ability shown by the PFR1 ELISA to detect infected dogs that go undetected by the crude antigen
ELISAs is clinically and epidemiologically useful and PFR1 could be considered a candidate for a multi-antigen-based
immunoassay for early detection of L. infantum infected dogs.
KW - Canine
KW - Diagnosis
KW - Leishmania
KW - PFR1 recombinant antigen
KW - Serological
U2 - 10.1186/s12917-017-1224-z
DO - 10.1186/s12917-017-1224-z
M3 - Article
SN - 1746-6148
VL - 13
JO - BMC Veterinary Research
JF - BMC Veterinary Research
IS - 304
ER -