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使用完整的寄生虫或粗制抗原。重组抗原不仅可以通过检测物种特异性抗体来提高检测的特异性，而且还可以提高重复性/标准化和降低生产成本。为了识别这种重组蛋白，我们通过计算从寄生虫蛋白质组中鉴定了具有串联重复(TR)结构域的蛋白质，表达了它们，并评估了它们在牛非洲锥虫感染血清学诊断中的潜力。其中，Tbg4的敏感性为89%，特异性为100%。我们的数据表明，这些已定义的抗原有可能用于检测动物非洲锥虫病。

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.