Detection of anti-Pneumocystis jirovecii antibodies in human serum using a recombinant synthetic multi-epitope kexin-based antigen.
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Tomás, Ana Luísa; Cardoso, Fernando; de Sousa, Bruno; Matos, Olga
- Source
- European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases. Nov2020, Vol. 39 Issue 11, p2205-2209. 5p.
- Subject
- *IMMUNOGLOBULIN M
*IMMUNOGLOBULINS
*ANTIGENS
*PNEUMOCYSTIS pneumonia
*SERUM
*SERODIAGNOSIS
- Language
- ISSN
- 0934-9723
Interest in the detection of specific anti-Pneumocystis jirovecii antibodies has emerged as less-invasive alternative diagnostic approaches. Here is presented the performance of an ELISA based on a recombinant synthetic multi-epitope kexin 1 (Kex1) antigen of P. jirovecii, previously developed. Results showed that IgM anti-Kex1 levels were found significantly increased in patients with Pneumocystis pneumonia (PcP) compared with non-PcP cases (p < 0.001), allowing a diagnostic performance of PcP with a 70.8% sensitivity and a 75.0% specificity. These results suggest that this Kex1-based ELISA is a promising tool toward the serodiagnosis of PcP when the standard methods are difficult to perform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]