Iranian Journal of Immunology

Importance of L. Infantum H2B Recombinant Antigen for Serodiagnosis of Visceral Leishmaniasis

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Zahra Rezaei 1, 2
Gholamreza Pouladfar 1
Amin Ramezani 3
Zohreh Mostafavi-Pour 4
Amin Abbasian 1
Bahador Sarkari 2, 5
Bahman Pourabbas 1

1 Professor Alborzi Clinical Microbiology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

2 Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

3 Institute for Cancer Research, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

4 Department of Biochemistry, Recombinant Protein Laboratory, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

5 Basic Sciences in Infectious Diseases Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22034/iji.2019.80282
Abstract
Background: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) can lead to death in more than 95% of cases if left untreated. Accurate and early diagnosis has an important role in reducing mortality rate of this disease. Objective: To express recombinant H2B antigen from an Iranian isolate of Leishmania Infantum and evaluate its efficacy in the diagnosis of VL. Methods: The recombinant H2B antigen was produced in a prokaryotic system, and its efficacy for VL diagnosis was evaluated by ELISA. The serum samples from 80 VL patients, 100 individuals from endemic and non-endemic regions of VL, and 58 non-VL patients were collected. VL cases were confirmed based on the clinical sign, positive IFAT (>64), real time PCR, and response to treatment. Results: The H2B gene sequence of the Iranian L. infantum isolate had about 4% diversity in comparison with the H2B gene of the L. infantum counterpart. ELISA, using the produced H2B recombinant antigen, showed sensitivity of 71.25% (95% CI: 60.05%-80.82%) and specificity of 69.62% (95% CI: 61.81%-76.68%) regarding VL diagnosis. Conclusion: Recombinant H2B antigen expressed in the prokaryotic system had suboptimal performance for the serological diagnosis of VL. It seems that the production and expression of recombinant H2B antigen in a eukaryotic system may enhance the performance of this antigen in the diagnosis of VL in Iran.

Keywords

Iran
Human
Recombinant H2B Antigen
Serological Diagnosis
Visceral Leishmaniasis
Iranian Journal of Immunology
Volume 16, Issue 4
Autumn 2019
Pages 311-320

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