Laboratório de Virologia Básica e Aplicada, Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
GIPH-Indisciplinary HTLV Research Group, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Front Public Health. 2022 May 23;10:884701. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.884701. eCollection 2022.
A multi-epitope protein expressed in a prokaryotic system, including epitopes of Env, Gag, and Tax proteins of both HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 was characterized for HTLV-1/2 serological screening. This tool can contribute to support the implementation of public policies to reduce HTLV-1/2 transmission in Brazil, the country with the highest absolute numbers of HTLV-1/2 infected individuals. The chimeric protein was tested in EIA using serum/plasma of HTLV-infected individuals and non-infected ones from four Brazilian states, including the North and Northeast regions (that present high prevalence of HTLV-1/2) and Southeast region (that presents intermediate prevalence rates) depicting different epidemiological context of HTLV-1/2 infection in our country. We enrolled samples from Pará ( = 114), Maranhão ( = 153), Minas Gerais ( = 225) and São Paulo ( = 59) states; they are from blood donors' candidates (Pará and Minas Gerais), pregnant women (Maranhão) and HIV+/high risk for sexually transmitted infection (STI; São Paulo). Among the HTLV-1/2 positive sera, there were co-infections with viral (HTLV-1 + HTLV-2, HIV, HCV, and HBV), bacterial () and parasitic (, and ) pathogens related to HTLV-1/2 co-morbidities that can contribute to inconclusive diagnostic results. Sera positive for HIV were included among the HTLV-1/2 negative samples. Considering both HTLV-1 and HTLV-2-infected samples from all states and different groups (blood donor candidates, pregnant women, and individuals with high risk for STI), mono or co-infected and HTLV-/HIV+, the test specificity ranged from 90.09 to 95.19% and the sensitivity from 82.41 to 92.36% with high accuracy (ROC AUC = 0.9552). This multi-epitope protein showed great potential to be used in serological screening of HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 in different platforms, even taking into account the great regional variation and different profile of HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 mono or co-infected individuals.
一种在原核系统中表达的多表位蛋白，包括 HTLV-1 和 HTLV-2 的Env、Gag 和 Tax 蛋白的表位，用于 HTLV-1/2 的血清学筛查。该工具有助于支持在巴西实施减少 HTLV-1/2 传播的公共政策，巴西是 HTLV-1/2 感染人数最多的国家。该嵌合蛋白在 EIA 中使用来自四个巴西州（包括北部和东北部地区（HTLV-1/2 流行率高）和东南部地区（流行率中等）的 HTLV 感染个体和未感染个体的血清/血浆进行了测试，描绘了我国 HTLV-1/2 感染的不同流行病学背景。我们招募了来自帕拉州（=114）、马拉尼昂州（=153）、米纳斯吉拉斯州（=225）和圣保罗州（=59）的样本；他们来自献血者候选者（帕拉州和米纳斯吉拉斯州）、孕妇（马拉尼昂州）和艾滋病毒+/高风险性传播感染（STI；圣保罗州）。在 HTLV-1/2 阳性血清中，存在与病毒（HTLV-1+HTLV-2、HIV、HCV 和 HBV）、细菌（）和寄生虫（、和）病原体的合并感染，这些病原体与 HTLV-1/2 合并症相关，可能导致诊断结果不确定。感染 HIV 的血清也包括在 HTLV-1/2 阴性样本中。考虑到来自所有州和不同群体（献血者候选者、孕妇和 STI 高风险个体）的 HTLV-1 和 HTLV-2 感染样本、单一或合并感染以及 HTLV-/HIV+，该测试的特异性为 90.09%至 95.19%，敏感性为 82.41%至 92.36%，准确性高（ROC AUC=0.9552）。这种多表位蛋白具有很大的潜力，可用于不同平台的 HTLV-1 和 HTLV-2 的血清学筛查，即使考虑到巨大的区域差异和 HTLV-1 和 HTLV-2 单一或合并感染个体的不同特征。
