2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Serological characterizations of tandem repeat proteins for detection of African trypanosome infection

Research Project

Project/Area Number	21880007
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Applied veterinary science
Research Institution	The University of Tokyo (2010) Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine (2009)
Principal Investigator	GOTO Yasuyuki The University of Tokyo, 大学院・農学生命科学研究科, 助教 (50553434)
Project Period (FY)	2009 – 2010
Keywords	トリパノソーマ症 / 血清学的診断 / 抗原 / タンデムリピート
Research Abstract	Serological diagnosis is a useful method to detect African trypanosome infection. Currently available serological tests utilize whole parasites or crude antigens. Recombinant antigens may not only enhance test specificity by allowing the detection of species-specific antibodies, but could also improve reproducibility/standardization and reduce production costs. With a goal of identifying such recombinant proteins, we computationally identified proteins with tandem repeat (TR) domain from the parasite proteomes, expressed them and evaluated their potential for serological diagnosis of African trypanosome infections in cattle. Among those tested, Tbg4 demonstrated the best performance with 89% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Our data indicate the potential of these defined antigens for detection of animal African trypanosomiasis.