Abstract
Brucellosis is a widespread zoonotic disease that is also a potential agent of bioterrorism. Current serological assays to diagnose human brucellosis in clinical settings are based on detection of agglutinating anti-LPS antibodies. To better understand the universe of antibody responses that develop after B. melitensis infection, a protein microarray was fabricated containing 1,406 predicted B. melitensis proteins. The array was probed with sera from experimentally infected goats and naturally infected humans from an endemic region in Peru. The assay identified 18 antigens differentially recognized by infected and non-infected goats, and 13 serodiagnostic antigens that differentiate human patients proven to have acute brucellosis from syndromically similar patients. There were 31 cross-reactive antigens in healthy goats and 20 cross-reactive antigens in healthy humans. Only two of the serodiagnostic antigens and eight of the cross-reactive antigens overlap between humans and goats. Based on these results, a nitrocellulose line blot containing the human serodiagnostic antigens was fabricated and applied in a simple assay that validated the accuracy of the protein microarray results in the diagnosis of humans. These data demonstrate that an experimentally infected natural reservoir host produces a fundamentally different immune response than a naturally infected accidental human host.
Highlights
Brucellosis is a zoonotic infectious disease endemic in regions around the world where agricultural, animal husbandry and vaccination practices have not controlled infection among livestock reservoirs [1,2,3]
Goats recognized 18 proteins and humans recognized 13 proteins as serodiagnostic antigens; antibody detection of only two of these antigens was shared by goats and humans, suggesting either fundamentally different immune responses or different responses in relation to mode or setting of infection
The human serodiagnostic antigens were evaluated in a simple nitrocellulose line blot assay, which validated the protein microarray results
Summary
Brucellosis is a zoonotic infectious disease endemic in regions around the world where agricultural, animal husbandry and vaccination practices have not controlled infection among livestock reservoirs [1,2,3]. The current knowledge of protein antigens recognized by humans and reservoir animals is limited to a relatively small number of immunogenic Brucella abortus proteins recognized by cattle, mice and sheep and limited studies on human and goat recognition of Brucella melitensis antigens [9,10,11,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33]. Antibodies to smooth LPS have been observed to arise sooner in the course of brucellosis compared to known antigens or groups of
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
