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Ferrara G, Colitti B, Flores-Ramirez G, Pagnini U, Iovane G, Rosati S, Montagnaro S. Detection of Coxiella antibodies in ruminants using a SucB recombinant antigen. J Vet Diagn Invest 2023; 35:721-726. [PMID: 37705242 PMCID: PMC10621550 DOI: 10.1177/10406387231199964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/15/2023] Open
Abstract
The detection of Coxiella burnetii in ruminants remains challenging despite the use of new technology and the accumulation of novel knowledge. Serology tools, the primary methods of infection surveillance in veterinary medicine, have limitations. We used recombinant antigen production to develop an ELISA based on the SucB protein, one of the major immunodominant antigens described in humans and laboratory animals. We produced the antigen successfully in an Escherichia coli heterologous system, confirmed by sequencing and mass spectrometry, and seen as a band of ~50 kDa in SDS-PAGE and on western blot analysis. We compared the performance of the recombinant ELISA with a commercial ELISA. We observed agreement of 83.5% and a substantial Cohen κ value of 0.67 in our pilot study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gianmarco Ferrara
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Productions, University of Naples, “Federico II”, Naples, Italy
| | - Barbara Colitti
- Department of Veterinary Science, University of Turin, Grugliasco, TO, Italy
| | | | - Ugo Pagnini
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Productions, University of Naples, “Federico II”, Naples, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Iovane
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Productions, University of Naples, “Federico II”, Naples, Italy
| | - Sergio Rosati
- Department of Veterinary Science, University of Turin, Grugliasco, TO, Italy
| | - Serena Montagnaro
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Productions, University of Naples, “Federico II”, Naples, Italy
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Bach E, Fitzgerald SF, Williams-MacDonald SE, Mitchell M, Golde WT, Longbottom D, Nisbet AJ, Dinkla A, Sullivan E, Pinapati RS, Tan JC, Joosten LAB, Roest HJ, Østerbye T, Koets AP, Buus S, McNeilly TN. Genome-wide epitope mapping across multiple host species reveals significant diversity in antibody responses to Coxiella burnetii vaccination and infection. Front Immunol 2023; 14:1257722. [PMID: 37954609 PMCID: PMC10637584 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1257722] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 11/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Coxiella burnetii is an important zoonotic bacterial pathogen of global importance, causing the disease Q fever in a wide range of animal hosts. Ruminant livestock, in particular sheep and goats, are considered the main reservoir of human infection. Vaccination is a key control measure, and two commercial vaccines based on formalin-inactivated C. burnetii bacterins are currently available for use in livestock and humans. However, their deployment is limited due to significant reactogenicity in individuals previously sensitized to C. burnetii antigens. Furthermore, these vaccines interfere with available serodiagnostic tests which are also based on C. burnetii bacterin antigens. Defined subunit antigen vaccines offer significant advantages, as they can be engineered to reduce reactogenicity and co-designed with serodiagnostic tests to allow discrimination between vaccinated and infected individuals. This study aimed to investigate the diversity of antibody responses to C. burnetii vaccination and/or infection in cattle, goats, humans, and sheep through genome-wide linear epitope mapping to identify candidate vaccine and diagnostic antigens within the predicted bacterial proteome. Using high-density peptide microarrays, we analyzed the seroreactivity in 156 serum samples from vaccinated and infected individuals to peptides derived from 2,092 open-reading frames in the C. burnetii genome. We found significant diversity in the antibody responses within and between species and across different types of C. burnetii exposure. Through the implementation of three different vaccine candidate selection methods, we identified 493 candidate protein antigens for protein subunit vaccine design or serodiagnostic evaluation, of which 65 have been previously described. This is the first study to investigate multi-species seroreactivity against the entire C. burnetii proteome presented as overlapping linear peptides and provides the basis for the selection of antigen targets for next-generation Q fever vaccines and diagnostic tests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emil Bach
- Department of Immunology & Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Annemieke Dinkla
- Department of Bacteriology, Host-Pathogen Interaction and Diagnostic Development, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research, Lelystad, Netherlands
| | - Eric Sullivan
- Nimble Therapeutics, Inc., Madison, WI, United States
| | | | - John C. Tan
- Nimble Therapeutics, Inc., Madison, WI, United States
| | - Leo A. B. Joosten
- Department of Internal Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Hendrik-Jan Roest
- Department of Bacteriology, Host-Pathogen Interaction and Diagnostic Development, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research, Lelystad, Netherlands
- Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, Den Haag, Netherlands
- Department of Infection and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Thomas Østerbye
- Department of Immunology & Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ad P. Koets
- Department of Bacteriology, Host-Pathogen Interaction and Diagnostic Development, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research, Lelystad, Netherlands
| | - Søren Buus
- Department of Immunology & Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Ferrara G, Colitti B, Pagnini U, Iovane G, Rosati S, Montagnaro S. Characterization of recombinant Ybgf protein for the detection of Coxiella antibodies in ruminants. J Vet Diagn Invest 2022; 34:646-653. [PMID: 35610946 DOI: 10.1177/10406387221093581] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Q fever remains a One Health problem, posing a zoonotic threat and causing significant economic losses to the livestock industry. The advancement of detection tools is critical to the effective control of infection. In humans, laboratory investigations depend largely on the immunofluorescence assay, considered the gold standard. In contrast, serologic tools routinely used for veterinary screening have several gaps, resulting in interpretations that are frequently misleading. We investigated the potential application of recombinant Ybgf antigen (r-Ybgf), a periplasmic protein described as one of the most immunodominant antigens in humans, in an indirect ELISA. Following successful expression in the prokaryotic system and the preliminary evaluation of immunoreactivity in western blot, we used r-Ybgf to develop an in-house ELISA using serum samples from sheep, goats, and cattle, which were tested in parallel with an Idexx ELISA kit. The results obtained with the 2 tests were compared, and r-Ybgf performed favorably, with 81.8% sensitivity and 90.1% specificity and substantial agreement, as revealed by receiver operating characteristic analysis. Moreover, we evaluated the serologic response against phase I (PhI) and phase II (PhII) antigens, and r-Ybgf antigen induced by vaccination, using phase-specific ELISAs. The dynamics of antibody response showed a significant increase in reactivity against PhI and PhII, but not against r-Ybgf, antigens. This property may be very useful given the absence of a protocol for the differentiation of infected from vaccinated animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gianmarco Ferrara
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Productions, University of Naples, "Federico II", Naples, Italy
| | - Barbara Colitti
- Department of Veterinary Science, University of Turin, Grugliasco, TO, Italy
| | - Ugo Pagnini
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Productions, University of Naples, "Federico II", Naples, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Iovane
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Productions, University of Naples, "Federico II", Naples, Italy
| | - Sergio Rosati
- Department of Veterinary Science, University of Turin, Grugliasco, TO, Italy
| | - Serena Montagnaro
- Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Productions, University of Naples, "Federico II", Naples, Italy
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