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Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, July 2009, p. 999-1002, Vol. 16, No. 7
1071-412X/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/CVI.00096-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Towards a New Reference Test for Surra in Camels {triangledown}

Thao Tran,1,2,3* Filip Claes,1,4 Didier Verloo,5 Henri De Greve,2,3 and Philippe Büscher1

Department of Parasitology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium,1 Department of Molecular and Cellular Interactions, VIB, Brussels, Belgium,2 Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium,3 Department of Biosystems, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 30, bus 2456, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium,4 Department of Scientific Cooperation and Assistance, European Food Safety Authority, Largo N. Palli 5/A, I-43100 Parma, Italy5

Received 15 February 2009/ Returned for modification 30 March 2009/ Accepted 23 April 2009

Current serological diagnosis of Trypanosoma evansi infection in camels is based on the native variable antigen type RoTat 1.2. The goal of this study was to develop a novel serological diagnostic test based on a nonvariable protein and freed from the use of rats or mice for its production. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using a recombinant extracellular domain of invariant surface glycoprotein 75 (ELISA/rISG75) was developed and tested on a collection of 184 camel sera. The results were compared to those obtained from three established antibody detection tests based on variable surface glycoprotein RoTat 1.2: an ELISA for T. evansi (ELISA/T. evansi), a card agglutination test for trypanosomiasis (CATT/T. evansi), and an immune trypanolysis (TL) assay. The ELISA/rISG75 and the ELISA/T. evansi showed a sensitivity of 94.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 87.8 to 98.2%, at 19% positivity cutoff value) and 98.9% (95% CI, 94.1 to 99.8, at 12% positivity cutoff value), respectively. The ELISA/rISG75 had 100% specificity (CI, 95.9 to 100%), while the ELISA/T. evansi showed 98.9% specificity (CI, 95.9 to 100%). The ELISA/rISG75 demonstrated an almost perfect agreement with the TL assay, the CATT/T. evansi, and the ELISA/T. evansi, with kappa scores of at least 0.94. The ELISA/rISG75, having a performance comparable to that of the gold standard (the TL assay) and being independent of antigenic variation, may become a new reference test for surra in camels. It opens avenues for the diagnosis of T. evansi infections in other hosts as well as for the development of a pan-Trypanozoon test for detection of Trypanosoma brucei brucei, T. b. gambiense, T. b. rhodesiense, T. evansi, and T. equiperdum.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. Phone: 32 2 6291977. Fax: 32 2 6291981. E-mail: thao.tran{at}vub.ac.be

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 29 April 2009.

Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, July 2009, p. 999-1002, Vol. 16, No. 7
1071-412X/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/CVI.00096-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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