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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, September 2001, p. 3303-3310, Vol. 39, No. 9
School of Public Health, University of California,
Berkeley, California 947201;
Gonçalo Moniz Research Center, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation,
Brazilian Ministry of Health,2 and
School of Pharmacy, Federal University of
Bahia,3 Salvador, Brazil; Division
of Infectious Diseases, Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare
System, Los Angeles, California 900734;
Department of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles,
California 900955; Biomanguinhos,
Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazilian Ministry of Health, Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil6; and Division of
International Medicine and Infectious Disease, Weill Medical College
of Cornell University, New York, New York
100217
Received 26 February 2001/Returned for modification 28 May
2001/Accepted 1 July 2001
There is an urgent need for development of new serodiagnostic
strategies for leptospirosis, an emerging zoonosis with
worldwide distribution. We have evaluated the diagnostic utility of
five recombinant antigens in enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for serodiagnosis of leptospirosis. Sera
from 50 healthy residents of a high-incidence region were used to
determine cutoff values for 96% specificity. In paired sera from 50 cases of leptospirosis confirmed by the microscopic agglutination test,
immunoglobulin G (IgG) but not IgM reacted with the recombinant
leptospiral proteins. The recombinant LipL32 IgG ELISA had the highest
sensitivities in the acute (56%) and convalescent (94%) phases of
leptospirosis. ELISAs based on recombinant OmpL1, LipL41, and Hsp58 had
sensitivities of 16, 24, and 18% during the acute phase and 72, 44, and 32% during convalescence, respectively. Compared to sera from
healthy individuals, patient sera did not react significantly with
recombinant LipL36 (P > 0.05). Recombinant LipL32
IgG ELISA demonstrated 95% specificity among 100 healthy individuals,
and specificities ranging from 90 to 97% among 30 dengue patients, 30 hepatitis patients, and 16 patients with diseases initially thought to
be leptospirosis. Among 39 Venereal Disease Research Laboratory
test-positive individuals and 30 Lyme disease patients, 13 and
23% of sera, respectively, reacted positively with the
rLipL32 antigen. These findings indicate that
rLipL32 may be an useful antigen for the serodiagnosis of leptospirosis.
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.9.3303-3310.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Evaluation of Recombinant Leptospira Antigen-Based
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays for the Serodiagnosis of
Leptospirosis
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Centro de
Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rua
Waldemar Falcão, 121, 40295-001 Salvador, Brazil. Phone: (55 71)
356-4320, ext. 243. Fax: (55 71) 356-2155. E-mail:
aik2001{at}med.cornell.edu.
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