Serological characterizations of tandem repeat proteins for detection of African trypanosome infection

血清学诊断是检测非洲锥虫感染的有效方法。目前可用的血清学测试利用完整的寄生虫或粗抗原。重组抗原不仅可以通过允许检测物种特异性抗体来增强测试特异性，而且还可以提高再现性/标准化并降低生产成本。为了鉴定这种重组蛋白，我们通过计算鉴定了寄生虫蛋白质组中具有串联重复序列（TR）结构域的蛋白质，表达了它们并评估了它们用于牛非洲锥虫感染的血清学诊断的潜力。在这些测试中，Tbg 4表现出最好的性能，具有89%的灵敏度和100%的特异性。我们的数据表明，这些确定的抗原检测动物非洲锥虫的潜力。

Serological diagnosis is a useful method to detect African trypanosome infection. Currently available serological tests utilize whole parasites or crude antigens. Recombinant antigens may not only enhance test specificity by allowing the detection of species-specific antibodies, but could also improve reproducibility/standardization and reduce production costs. With a goal of identifying such recombinant proteins, we computationally identified proteins with tandem repeat (TR) domain from the parasite proteomes, expressed them and evaluated their potential for serological diagnosis of African trypanosome infections in cattle. Among those tested, Tbg4 demonstrated the best performance with 89% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Our data indicate the potential of these defined antigens for detection of animal African trypanosomiasis.