title: Short epitope-based synthetic peptides for serodiagnosis of human strongyloidiasis.
abstract: Strongyloidiasis is one of the major intestinal infections in humans, and a neglected tropical disease whose diagnosis still poses a challenge. We hypothesized that diagnostic tests based on short peptides containing major epitopes may represent a promising strategy to improve strongyloidiasis detection due to reduced cross-reactivity and higher sensitivity. Our aim was to evaluate two synthetic peptides selected by phage display (C10 and D3) as potential tools for serodiagnosis of strongyloidiasis, and to predict their putative antigen target. To investigate their diagnostic potential, we have tested different panels of serum samples (n=120) by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect specific IgG, and their diagnostic parameters were calculated. Similarities with proteins from Strongyloides stercoralis were searched and conformational epitopes were predicted and aligned to known protein structures. Both C10 and D3 achieved sensitivity of 95%, and specificities were 89.2% and 92.5%, respectively. D3 presented the highest diagnostic efficiency (93.3%). Epitope prediction for both C10 and D3 led to the alignment with the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 structure. In brief, we propose two synthetic peptides as new biomarkers for serodiagnosis of strongyloidiasis, which can be promptly used for ELISA and in future field sensor platforms.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Diagnóstico de Parasitoses, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Av. Pará 1720, Bloco 4C, Uberlândia 38400-902, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Nágilla D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Feliciano
authors.affiliation: Unidade Acadêmica Especial de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal de Goiás-Regional Catalão, Av. Dr. Lamartine Pinto Avelar 1120, Bloco M, Catalão 75704-020, Goiás, Brazil.
authors.forename: Vanessa S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Diagnóstico de Parasitoses, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Av. Pará 1720, Bloco 4C, Uberlândia 38400-902, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Henrique T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Gonzaga
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Nanobiotecnologia, Instituto de Genética e Bioquímica, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Av. Amazonas, Bloco 2E, Campus Umuarama, Uberlândia 38400-902, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fabiana A A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Nanobiotecnologia, Instituto de Genética e Bioquímica, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Av. Amazonas, Bloco 2E, Campus Umuarama, Uberlândia 38400-902, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Patricia T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Fujimura
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Nanobiotecnologia, Instituto de Genética e Bioquímica, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Av. Amazonas, Bloco 2E, Campus Umuarama, Uberlândia 38400-902, Minas Gerais, Brazil; University of California Davi, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility, Suite 5503, Room 5517, 1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Electronic address: lrgoulart@ufu.br.
authors.forename: Luiz R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Goulart
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Diagnóstico de Parasitoses, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Av. Pará 1720, Bloco 4C, Uberlândia 38400-902, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Electronic address: costacruz@ufu.br.
authors.forename: Julia M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Costa-Cruz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000909:Antibodies, Helminth / Q000097:blood; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001938:Brazil; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003429:Cross Reactions; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D018604:Epitope Mapping; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D058069:Neglected Diseases / Q000276:immunology*; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000276:immunology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012698:Serologic Tests / Q000379:methods; D017171:Strongyloides stercoralis / Q000276:immunology*; D013322:Strongyloidiasis / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000909:Antibodies, Helminth; D015415:Biomarkers; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte; D010446:Peptide Fragments
keywords: Immunodiagnosis; Phage display; Strongyloidiasis; Synthetic peptides