title: Virus-like Particle Display of the α-Gal Epitope for the Diagnostic Assessment of Chagas Disease.
abstract: The α-Gal antigen [Galα(1,3)Galβ(1,4)GlcNAcα] is an immunodominant epitope displayed by infective trypomastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease. A virus-like particle displaying a high density of α-Gal was found to be a superior reagent for the ELISA-based serological diagnosis of Chagas disease and the assessment of treatment effectiveness. A panel of sera from patients chronically infected with T. cruzi, both untreated and benznidazole-treated, was compared with sera from patients with leishmaniasis and from healthy donors. The nanoparticle-α-Gal construct allowed for perfect discrimination between Chagas patients and the others, avoiding false negative and false positive results obtained with current state-of-the-art reagents. As previously reported with purified α-Gal-containing glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored mucins, the current study also showed concentrations of anti-α-Gal IgG to decrease substantially in patients receiving treatment with benznidazole, suggesting that the semiquantitative assessment of serum levels of this highly abundant type of antibody can report on disease status in individual patients.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas , Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Carlos Ramon Nascimento
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Brito
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States.
authors.forename: Craig S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: McKay
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas , Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maíra Araújo
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Azevedo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas , Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luíza Costa Brandão
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas , Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana Paula
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Venuto
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas , Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniela Ferreira
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas , Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniella Alchaar
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: D'Ávila
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas , Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gisele Macedo
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Rodrigues da Cunha
authors.affiliation: Border Biomedical Research Center, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso , El Paso, Texas 79912, United States.
authors.forename: Igor Correia
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas , Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ricardo Tostes
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Gazzinelli
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas , Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lucia Maria Cunha
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Galvão
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas , Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Egler
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chiari
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States.
authors.forename: Carlos A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Sanhueza
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Finn
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas , Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alexandre Ferreira
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Marques
mesh_terms: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D014312:Trisaccharides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014780:Viruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D014312:Trisaccharides; C076569:alpha-galactosyl epitope
keywords: Chagas disease; ELISA; Trypanosoma cruzi; anti-α-Gal antibodies; diagnostics; treatment assessment; α-Gal