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Use of Antigen Combinations to Address Complex Leishmania-Seropositivity Patterns in Dogs Living in Canine Leishmaniosis Endemic Regions of Portugal

Canine leishmaniosis (CanL) is a vector-borne disease caused by Leishmania infantum. Infection in dogs can result in a disease with non-specific clinical signs or in a subclinical condition. Infection diagnosis is crucial to guide public health measures considering the zoonotic potential of L. infan...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lima, Carla Silva, Esteves, Sofia, Costa, Inês, Brancal, Hugo, Lima, Clara, Amorim, Célia, Cardoso, Luís, Santarém, Nuno, Cordeiro-da-Silva, Anabela
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9607924/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36296294
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10102018
Descripción
Sumario:Canine leishmaniosis (CanL) is a vector-borne disease caused by Leishmania infantum. Infection in dogs can result in a disease with non-specific clinical signs or in a subclinical condition. Infection diagnosis is crucial to guide public health measures considering the zoonotic potential of L. infantum. Serological approaches to detect infection with a reduced antigen panel potentially limit the quality of the information obtained. To evaluate the impact of using distinct antigens in a serological survey, a cohort with 390 dogs from endemic regions in Portugal was subjected to a serological evaluation using ELISA and DAT. Using ELISA, six Leishmania-specific antigens in conjunction with a non-related antigen, Escherichia coli soluble antigens, were evaluated. The global seroprevalence was 10.5% for DAT and 15.4 to 23.1% for ELISA, depending on the antigen for the latter. Still, only 8.2% of the animals were seropositive to all Leishmania-specific antigens. Importantly, a further 31.0% presented antigen-dependent seropositivity. Considering this observation, a serological score system was proposed and validated to address the complex serology results. With this system, the overall dog seropositivity was 26.9%. This work highlights the limitations of single-antigen serological surveys and presents an approach that might contribute to the establishment of CanL-specific serological profiles.