title: Antibody specific to thioredoxin reductase as a new biomarker for serodiagnosis of invasive aspergillosis in non-neutropenic patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is an important cause of mortality in critically ill patients, but the diagnosis is difficult as clinical and radiological signs are neither sensitive nor specific. Serum galactomannan (GM) is a useful marker for IA, but exhibits low sensitivity in non-neutropenic patients. In our previous work, strong antibody reactivity to thioredoxin reductase of Aspergillus fumigatus was found in non-neutropenic IA patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using recombinant thioredoxin reductase GliT (TR), an antigenic protein secreted by A. fumigatus, as the coating antigen, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting anti-TR antibodies was developed. The antibody response to TR in IA animal models and 42 non-neutropenic patients with culture- and/or histology-documented IA was investigated. The results showed that anti-TR antibody was detectable in rabbit serum 7-9 days after exposure to the fungus. The sensitivity and specificity of the anti-TR antibody assay in patients were 80.9% and 96%, respectively, while the sensitivity of GM in this group of patients was only 52.3%. The specificity of the assay was confirmed by testing the sera from patients infected with other pathogenic fungal species and bacteria.
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Technology, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China.
authors.forename: Li-ning
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Fang-qiu
authors.initials: FQ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jing-fen
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Xiao-xiang
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Shi-qin
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Hai-feng
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Shi-he
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Shao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D000908:Antibodies, Fungal / Q000097:blood*; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001228:Aspergillosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D005690:Galactose / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008351:Mannans / Q000097:blood; D008875:Middle Aged; D009503:Neutropenia; D011817:Rabbits; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012698:Serologic Tests / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D013880:Thioredoxin-Disulfide Reductase / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D000908:Antibodies, Fungal; D015415:Biomarkers; D008351:Mannans; C012990:galactomannan; D013880:Thioredoxin-Disulfide Reductase; D005690:Galactose