Longoni Silvia Stefania, Beltrame Anna, Prato Marco, Spencer John Stewart, Bergamaschi Nicolo, Clapasson Andrea, Parodi Aurora, Piubelli Chiara, Perandin Francesca
Department of Infectious, Tropical Diseases and Microbiology, IRCCS Sacro Cuore Don Calabria Hospital, 37024 Verona, Italy.
Mycobacteria Research Laboratories, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
Pathogens. 2022 Aug 9;11(8):894. doi: 10.3390/pathogens11080894.
Leprosy is a neglected tropical disease caused by , leading to disabilities if untreated. The ELISA based on phenolic glycolipid I (PGL-I), or its synthetic version ND-O-BSA, is almost universally positive in multibacillary leprosy and thus extensively used in endemic countries. Household contacts with a positive antibody titer have ~6-fold higher probability to develop the disease than those with a negative titer. Thus, the aim of the study was to evaluate the performance of this ELISA in the setting of a non-endemic country.
We calculate the cut-off using optimized O.D. thresholds, generated by receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis, testing 39 well-characterized sera obtained from lepromatous leprosy patients with strongly positive ND-O-BSAELISA titer and 39 sera from healthy non-endemic patients never exposed to or . Indeed, we tested a second set of sera from suspected or confirmed leprosy or household contacts (SLALT group, n=50), and patients with tuberculosis (control group, n=40).
We detected 56.4% of SLALT and 22.5% of tuberculosis as positive, consistent with the literature.
The ELISA based on ND-O-BSA may thus be considered a good option to be used in a non-endemic area as a screening tool in at risk population usually coming to our center.
麻风病是一种由[病原体名称未给出]引起的被忽视的热带病，若不治疗会导致残疾。基于酚糖脂I（PGL-I）或其合成版本ND-O-BSA的酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）在多菌型麻风病中几乎普遍呈阳性，因此在麻风病流行国家被广泛使用。抗体滴度呈阳性的家庭接触者患该病的可能性比滴度呈阴性者高约6倍。因此，本研究的目的是评估这种ELISA在非流行国家环境中的性能。
我们使用通过接受者操作特征（ROC）曲线分析生成的优化光密度（O.D.）阈值来计算临界值，检测了39份特征明确的血清，这些血清来自瘤型麻风病患者，其ND-O-BSA ELISA滴度呈强阳性，以及39份来自从未接触过[病原体名称未给出]的健康非流行地区患者的血清。实际上，我们检测了第二组血清，这些血清来自疑似或确诊的麻风病患者或家庭接触者（SLALT组，n = 50），以及肺结核患者（对照组，n = 40）。
我们检测到SLALT组中有56.4%呈阳性，肺结核组中有22.5%呈阳性，这与文献报道一致。
基于ND-O-BSA的ELISA因此可被视为在非流行地区作为通常前来我们中心的高危人群筛查工具的一个良好选择。
