Improved serodiagnosis of Campylobacter jejuni infections using recombinant antigens.
Campylobacter jejuni is a frequent cause of infectious diarrhoea and is increasingly recognized as a trigger for late-onset complications. The poor standardization of commonly used serological tests might explain the conflicting results regarding the frequency of antecedent C. jejuni infections in defined patient groups. In order to obtain reliable epidemiological data as to the role of C. jejuni in causing late-onset complications, a highly specific and sensitive diagnostic tool for the epidemiological investigation of C. jejuni-associated diseases was developed. It was shown that recombinant proteins encoded by the C. jejuni genes cj0017 (P39) and cj0113 (P18) are specifically recognized by antibodies in sera from patients with C. jejuni enteritis. An ELISA using recombinant P18 and P39 as antigens was 91.9% sensitive and 99.0% specific, with positive and negative predictive values of 97.1% and 97.0%, respectively, comparing favourably with the 27.0% sensitivity of a routinely used serological assay.
Schmidt-Ott
Ruprecht
R
Institute of Medical Microbiology1 and Department for Medical Statistics2, University of Göttingen, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany.
Brass
Felicitas
F
Institute of Medical Microbiology1 and Department for Medical Statistics2, University of Göttingen, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany.
Scholz
Christiane
C
Institute of Medical Microbiology1 and Department for Medical Statistics2, University of Göttingen, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany.
Werner
Carola
C
Institute of Medical Microbiology1 and Department for Medical Statistics2, University of Göttingen, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany.
Groß
Uwe
U
Institute of Medical Microbiology1 and Department for Medical Statistics2, University of Göttingen, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany.
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D012698:Serologic Tests
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D011994:Recombinant Proteins