Prominent events in the development of a simultaneous multidiagnostic system with synthetic peptides

Abstract

The tropics are abundant in both animals and plants, but also in pathogenic agents. There, the world’s greatest burden of diseases and mortality is concentrated. Co-infections are the rule, making laboratory diagnosis complex. Simultaneous multidiagnostic methods are desirable; however, they are mostly expensive and inaccessible to the populations of the region. The aim of our research was to produce synthetic peptides of the most important pathogens that can be used in a simultaneous multidiagnostic technique. Thus, we designed a low-cost method to detect antibodies, the multiple antigen blot assay (MABA), using synthetic peptides as the main source of antigens from endemic tropical diseases. This method allows the simultaneous detection of antibodies against 26 different agents with only a few microliters of sera, plasma, or saliva. The development of this system is the result of a long process, and the pipeline of our approach from then to nowadays is presented. Specific epitopes with the greatest antigenic potential using immunoinformatic algorithms have been selected from worldwide and tropical pathogens and then assayed by a successive chain of immunological techniques [PEPSCAN^®, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and MABA] to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of those synthetic peptides for their usefulness in diagnosis. Years of work have been required for this complex process, with the recent incorporation of new immunoinformatic predictive tools, methodologies, and cost advantages. It can be concluded that synthetic peptides are a promising approach for diagnostic processes based either on the detection of antigens or antibodies.

Keywords

Multidiagnosis / synthetic peptides / tropical diseases / immunoinformatics / PEPSCAN ^® / synthesis of peptides on cellulose membrane (SPOT ^®) / multiple antigen blot assay

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