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

• Main Authors: Zahra Rezaei, Gholamreza Pouladfar, Amin Ramezani, Zohreh Mostafavi-Pour, Amin Abbasian, Bahador Sarkari, Bahman Pourabbas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shiraz University of Medical Sciences 2019-12-01
• Series: Iranian Journal of Immunology
• Subjects: iran; human; recombinant h2b antigen; serological diagnosis; visceral leishmaniasis
• Online Access: http://iji.sums.ac.ir/article_45973_9919fa48c030c6c40a905df94df1d18a.pdf

<strong>Background:</strong> 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. <strong>Objective: </strong>To express recombinant H2B antigen from an Iranian isolate of <em>Leishmania Infantum </em>and evaluate its efficacy in the diagnosis of VL. <strong>Methods:</strong> 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. <strong>Results:</strong> The H2B gene sequence of the Iranian <em>L. infantum </em>isolate had about 4% diversity in comparison with the H2B gene of the <em>L. infantum </em>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. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> 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.