AIMS: The study was aimed to evaluate the Mycobacterium leprae recombinant early secreted antigenic target-6 (rESAT-6) for its serological performance in leprosy patients.
METHODS AND RESULTS: Employing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), serum samples were tested for prevalence of immunoglobulin G antibodies against M. leprae rESAT-6. The results revealed that the sensitivity of the assay for smear-positive leprosy patients was 82.4% (14 of 17) while for smear-negative patients it was 19.4% (six of 31). Interestingly, the performance of ESAT-6-based assay was statistically comparable with anti-phenolic glycolipid-I antibody-detecting ELISA, a most widely studied serological assay in leprosy. Regarding specificity, none of the 48 controls was positive indicating that antibody response to ESAT-6 was highly specific. Moreover, a high concordance between bacterial index and anti-ESAT-6 antibody-detecting assay was noted.
CONCLUSIONS: Recombinant ESAT-6 seems to be a potential serological reagent for detection of M. leprae infection.
SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: ESAT-6 serology may have utility for (i) early diagnosis, particularly, of highly infectious form (multibacillary, MB) of leprosy, (ii) monitoring the response in smear-positive leprosy patients during the course of the chemotherapy, (iii) classification of leprosy patients into MB and paucibacillary groups for treatment purpose. Hence, further research on these lines is warranted.
BT - Letters in applied microbiology C1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17451520?dopt=Abstract DA - 2007 May DO - 10.1111/j.1472-765X.2006.02099.x IS - 5 J2 - Lett. Appl. Microbiol. LA - eng N2 -AIMS: The study was aimed to evaluate the Mycobacterium leprae recombinant early secreted antigenic target-6 (rESAT-6) for its serological performance in leprosy patients.
METHODS AND RESULTS: Employing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), serum samples were tested for prevalence of immunoglobulin G antibodies against M. leprae rESAT-6. The results revealed that the sensitivity of the assay for smear-positive leprosy patients was 82.4% (14 of 17) while for smear-negative patients it was 19.4% (six of 31). Interestingly, the performance of ESAT-6-based assay was statistically comparable with anti-phenolic glycolipid-I antibody-detecting ELISA, a most widely studied serological assay in leprosy. Regarding specificity, none of the 48 controls was positive indicating that antibody response to ESAT-6 was highly specific. Moreover, a high concordance between bacterial index and anti-ESAT-6 antibody-detecting assay was noted.
CONCLUSIONS: Recombinant ESAT-6 seems to be a potential serological reagent for detection of M. leprae infection.
SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: ESAT-6 serology may have utility for (i) early diagnosis, particularly, of highly infectious form (multibacillary, MB) of leprosy, (ii) monitoring the response in smear-positive leprosy patients during the course of the chemotherapy, (iii) classification of leprosy patients into MB and paucibacillary groups for treatment purpose. Hence, further research on these lines is warranted.
PY - 2007 SP - 524 EP - 30 T2 - Letters in applied microbiology TI - Performance of recombinant ESAT-6 antigen (ML0049) for detection of leprosy patients. VL - 44 SN - 0266-8254 ER -