Development of enzyme immunoassays (ELISA and Western blot) for the serological diagnosis of dermatophytosis in symptomatic and asymptomatic cats

Abstract

Dermatophytosis is the most common fungal infection in cats worldwide and plays an important role in both animal and human health due to their high zoonotic potential. Effective screening is a strong preventive measure and the fungal culture is quite useful but requires full laboratorial experience and it takes a long time to obtain the result. A rapid and accurate screening test for dermatophytosis in cats is crucial for the effective control of disease outbreaks. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of enzyme immunoassays (ELISA and Western blot [WB]) for the rapid and precise diagnosis of dermatophytosis in cats. Seventy cats of various ages were divided into three groups: S (symptomatic, n = 20), AS (asymptomatic, n = 30), and N (negative, n = 20). All animals were submitted to fungal culture and blood samples for carrying out the serological tests. A significant difference (P < 0.05) was found between IgG-specific levels of sera of Microsporum canis positive and negative animals. There was no statistic difference between groups symptomatic and asymptomatic. The ELISA test showed sensitivity of 94% and specificity of 75%. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis also showed higher diagnostic accuracy (AUC 0.925). The WB technique detected 13 bands, and the 50 kDa protein was considered the most immunogenic protein, observing reactivity in 83.3% in the symptomatic group and 66.6% in the asymptomatic group. The study concluded that ELISA and WB were useful tools to reliably detect cats that have been exposed to M. canis.

Comparison of carpet and toothbrush techniques for the detection of Microsporum canis in cats

“…2,3 In a recent study, the carpet method was used to identify dermatophytosis in 70 Persian cats, with 100% of cultures being positive for M canis. 12 In this study, M canis was properly isolated using both methods, which reinforces that the toothbrush and carpet methods could be useful for sampling dermatophytosis. Both methods are easy and safe to perform on cats, but have particular aspects that affect their ease of use.…”

“…2,3 In a recent study, the carpet method was used to identify dermatophytosis in 70 Persian cats, with 100% of cultures being positive for M canis. 12…”

Manipulation of Light Signal Transduction Factors as a Means of Modifying Steroidal Glycoalkaloids Accumulation in Tomato Leaves

“…After three 15 min PBST washes, the strips were incubated with a peroxidase substrate (3, 3′-N-diaminobenzidine tetrahydrochloride substrate solution; Sigma, USA) to visualize the protein bands (Ye et al, 2016 ). The reproducibility of the result was confirmed by three independent experiments ( n = 3) (Santana et al, 2017 ).…”

Microbiological Sensing Technologies: A Review

“…The protein based methods work either by immunological assays or gel electrophoresis. The immunological based techniques, such as ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbant Assay), antigenic participation and agglutination assays and western blotting, which commonly are employed to identify microorganisms based on their surface epitopes, are very specific and all are limited to the presence of a specific antibody for the given protein as well as the sensitivity and specificity of the antigen-antibody reactions [ 160 , 161 ].…”