M. Soto et al., MULTICOMPONENT CHIMERIC ANTIGEN FOR SERODIAGNOSIS OF CANINE VISCERAL LEISHMANIASIS, Journal of clinical microbiology, 36(1), 1998, pp. 58-63
In this work, we describe the assembly of a synthetic gene coding for
several antigenic determinants found in different Leishmania infantum
antigens, Selected epitopes were derived from the ribosomal proteins L
iP2a, LiP2b, and LiPO and from the histone H2A. The resulting gene was
overexpressed in Escherichia coli either as a fusion protein (with th
e vector pMAL-c2) or alone (with the vector pQE), In both cases, high-
level bacterial production of the recombinant protein was achieved and
the products were found to be stable. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent ass
ay (ELISA) and Western blotting experiments confirmed that the corresp
onding epitopes are present in the engineered protein, Finally, a sero
logical evaluation of this multiple-epitope protein by Falcon assay sc
reening test-ELISA revealed a sensitivity of 79 to 93% and a specifici
ty of 96 to 100% in diagnosis of canine visceral leishmaniasis, indica
ting that this protein represents a valuable tool for serodiagnosis.