Design and characterization of high-affinity synthetic peptides as bioreceptors for diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is one of the illnesses caused by Leishmania parasite infection, which can be asymptomatic or severe according to the infecting Leishmania strain. CL is commonly diagnosed by directly detecting the parasites or their DNA in tissue samples. New diagnostic methodologies target specific proteins (biomarkers) secreted by the parasite during the infection process. However, specific bioreceptors for the in vivo or in vitro detection of these novel biomarkers are rather limited in terms of sensitivity and specificity. For this reason, we here introduce three novel peptides as bioreceptors for the highly sensitive and selective identification of acid phosphatase (sAP) and proteophosphoglycan (PPG), which have a crucial role in leishmaniasis infection. These high-affinity peptides have been designed from the conservative domains of the lectin family, holding the ability to interact with the biological target and produce the same effect than the original protein. The synthetic peptides have been characterized and the affinity and kinetic constants for their interaction with the targets (sAP and PPG) have been determined by a surface plasmon resonance biosensor. Values obtained for K(D) are in the nanomolar range, which is comparable to high-affinity antibodies, with the additional advantage of a high biochemical stability and simpler production. Pep2854 exhibited a high affinity for sAP (K(D) = 1.48 nM) while Pep2856 had a good affinity for PPG (K(D) 1.76 nM). This study evidences that these peptidomimetics represent a novel alternative tool to the use of high molecular weight proteins for biorecognition in the diagnostic test and biosensor devices for CL. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00216-021-03424-2.