Detection of urinary biomarkers in reservoir hosts of leptospirosis by capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry.
OBJECTIVE
Pathogenic leptospires colonize the renal tubules of reservoir hosts of infection and are excreted via urine into the environment. Asymptomatic reservoir hosts include a wide range of domestic and wild animal species and include cattle, dogs, and rats that can persistently excrete large numbers of pathogenic leptospires over many months. A similar presentation has been observed in humans categorized as "long-term asymptomatic individuals" as they excreted leptospires in the absence of any clinical symptoms or positive serology.


METHODS
In the current study, the urine of experimentally infected rats, which showed no clinical signs or positive serology, was analyzed by CE-MS to identify urinary biomarkers of chronic infection.


RESULTS
A discriminating peptide pattern of 43 polypeptides provided a sensitivity of 93%, a specificity of 83%, and an accuracy of 90% for the identification of urine from chronically infected rats (p < 0.05, AUC > 90%). The majority of discriminating peptides were decreased in abundance in urine of chronically infected rats, including a peptide derived from neprilysin, a membrane metalloendopeptidase, the expression of which has previously been shown to be diminished in infected urine.


CONCLUSIONS
Results highlight the diagnostic capabilities of urinary biomarkers to identify reservoir hosts of leptospirosis using CE coupled to MS.
School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland.
Jarlath E
JE
Nally
BHF Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre, Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
William
W
Mullen
Ross University School of Medicine, St. Kitts, West Indies.
John J
JJ
Callanan
BHF Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre, Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.|Mosaiques diagnostics, Hannover, Germany.
Harald
H
Mischak
School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK.
Amaya
A
Albalat
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000652:urine; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D007668:Kidney / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000652:urine*; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015260:Neprilysin / Q000652:urine; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000652:urine; D017208:Rats, Wistar
D015415:Biomarkers; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D015260:Neprilysin
Biomarker; Capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry; Leptospira; Leptospirosis; Urine