Journal
ANALYTICAL AND BIOANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Volume 413, Issue 17, Pages 4545-4555Publisher
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.1007/s00216-021-03424-2
Keywords
Cutaneous leishmaniasis; High-affinity peptides; Lectins; Proteophosphoglycans; Acid phosphatase
Funding
- COLCIENCIAS in Colombia
- CERCA programme/Generalitat de Catalunya
- Severo Ochoa program from Spanish Ministry of Science MICINN [SEV-2017-0706]
- MICINN/FEDER [FICTS-1420-27]
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Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) caused by Leishmania parasite infection can be diagnosed by directly detecting parasites or their DNA in tissue samples, with new diagnostic methodologies targeting specific proteins as biomarkers. High-affinity peptides designed from conservative domains of the lectin family have been shown to interact with biological targets with comparable affinity to high-affinity antibodies.
Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is one of the illnesses caused by Leishmania parasite infection, which can be asymptomatic or severe according to the infecting Leishmania strain. CL is commonly diagnosed by directly detecting the parasites or their DNA in tissue samples. New diagnostic methodologies target specific proteins (biomarkers) secreted by the parasite during the infection process. However, specific bioreceptors for the in vivo or in vitro detection of these novel biomarkers are rather limited in terms of sensitivity and specificity. For this reason, we here introduce three novel peptides as bioreceptors for the highly sensitive and selective identification of acid phosphatase (sAP) and proteophosphoglycan (PPG), which have a crucial role in leishmaniasis infection. These high-affinity peptides have been designed from the conservative domains of the lectin family, holding the ability to interact with the biological target and produce the same effect than the original protein. The synthetic peptides have been characterized and the affinity and kinetic constants for their interaction with the targets (sAP and PPG) have been determined by a surface plasmon resonance biosensor. Values obtained for K-D are in the nanomolar range, which is comparable to high-affinity antibodies, with the additional advantage of a high biochemical stability and simpler production. Pep2854 exhibited a high affinity for sAP (K-D = 1.48 nM) while Pep2856 had a good affinity for PPG (K-D 1.76 nM). This study evidences that these peptidomimetics represent a novel alternative tool to the use of high molecular weight proteins for biorecognition in the diagnostic test and biosensor devices for CL.
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