Background and Aim: The present serodiagnosis of brucellosis in livestock is based on the whole cell or smooth lipopolysaccharide of the Brucella organism in which specificity is hampered by the cross-reactivity, especially with the antibodies against Yersinia enterocolitica O:9 organism. The problem can be addressed by screening for better immunodominant antigens. Hence, the present study was undertaken to screen protein antigens of Brucella abortus for their diagnostic potential in cattle brucellosis.
Materials and Methods: Protein antigens of B. abortus (n=10) non-reactive to antibodies against Y. enterocolitica O:9 were selected, expressed in Escherichia coli, assessed the reactivity of expressed recombinant proteins by Western blot, standardized indirect-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting Brucella antibodies in cattle serum, and comparative evaluation was done.
Results: All the selected protein antigens were expressed and in the Western blot with Brucella antibodies positive cattle serum, six recombinant (Brucella protein 26 [BP26], Cu-Zn Superoxide dismutase [SodC], B. abortus I-1885, Serine protease, Bacterioferritin, and Brucella Lumazine Synthase [BLS]) proteins showed reaction whereas none of the proteins showed reactivity with Brucella negative cattle serum. ELISA has been done using known Brucella positive and negative cattle sera samples (n=113 each) in which the performance of recombinant proteins in diagnosing brucellosis was in the order of BP26 > BLS > SodC followed by rest of the proteins. BP26 based ELISA was found to be better with area under the curve as 0.953, and diagnostic sensitivity, diagnostic specificity, and Youden's index of 90.27%, 95.58%, and 0.8584, respectively, with the excellent agreement (k=0.85).
Conclusion: BP26 could be a potential diagnostic antigen among the immunodominant proteins of B. abortus in ruling out Y. enterocolitica O:9 infection while diagnosing brucellosis in cattle herds.
The current study is conducted to observe the differences in the level of low molecular weight proteins in the sera of patients with leukaemia in comparison to healthy subjects (control group). The sera of patients with leukaemia showed 15 peaks in the densitometric curve in comparison to the seven peaks of the controls. The peaks in the experimental samples that coincide with those in the control were of 134.14, 113.15, 76.06, 63.25, 48.07, 22.85 and 16.47 kDa molecular weights, respectively. Most of the new peaks appeared between the proteins of molecular weight 36-29 kDa in the experimental groups. Mean density of the 134.14 kDa protein band showed an increase in the protein in experimental groups I and II only whereas 113.15 and 22.85 kDa protein were increased in all experimental groups of patients with leukaemia. The expression of 76.06 and 63.25 kDa protein fraction was downregulated in the patients with leukaemia. A decline in the level of the protein of 48.07 kDa was observed in patients with leukaemia except in Group I. Unlike the other protein fractions, the level of the protein of 16.47 kDa was significantly (p < 0.05) increased with a maximum density in Group II. Intergroup (experimental) comparison revealed an increasing pattern of 95.44 and 89.21 kDa with maximum level in Group III sera. However, the protein fractions of 38.07 and 34.94 kDa varied in the serum with maximum density in Group IV. Protein fractions of 32.92 and 31.24 kDa were expressed in all age groups of patients with leukaemia with a maximum density in Group III whereas the percentage densities of 14.42 and 13.56 kDa protein were quite different. This preliminary study will provide a basis to study the role of different proteins in patients with leukaemia.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.