Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English en
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-04-19

Recombinant antigens as serological tools for specific and sensitive tegumentary and visceral leishmaniasis diagnosis

Objective



THERE IS A DRAMATIC NEED FOR IMPROVED DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS FOR VISCERAL LEISHMANIASIS (VL) AND AMERICAN TEGUMENTARY LEISHMANIASIS (ATL). DEFINITIVE DIAGNOSIS OF LEISHMANIASIS NOW INVOLVES BIOPSIES FROM THE LESION (ATL) OR, WORSE, FROM THE BONE MARROW OR SPLEEN (VL). SMEARS AND CULTURE, AS WELL AS DNA HYBRIDIZATION POSE SPECIAL PROBLEMS, AND USUALLY REQUIRE LARGE NUMBERS OF PARASITES; WHILST THE MORE SENSITIVE PCR TECHNIQUES (WHICH IS CURRENTLY USED IN IMTAvH AND CNMVIS LAB) REMAINS PROHIBITIVELY EXPENSIVE. WE WILL DEVELOP RAPID, HIGHLY SENSITIVE IMMUNOLOGICAL TEST FORMATS USING LEISHMANIA RECOMBINANT PEPTIDE ANTIGENS, TRULY SPECIFIC FOR ATL AND VL. CLASSICAL SEROLOGY (IFAT, IDAT, ELISA) WITH CRUDE ANTIGENS PRESENTS CROSS/ NON SPECIFIC REACTIONS WITH OTHER DISEASES SUCH AS THE TRYPANOSOMIASES, LEPROSY, TUBERCULOSIS, MALARIA, ETC; OTHER PROBLEMS ARE LOW ANTIBODY LEVELS (ATL) AND ANTIGEN-STRAIN HETEROGENEITY. AT LEAST 30% OF AIDS PATIENTS WITH VL (MADRID) SHOW NO ANTI-LEISHMANIA ANTIBODIES USING CLASSICAL SEROLOGY, AND VL DIAGNOSIS AGAIN DEPENDS ON CULTURE.
MSC. YSABEL MONTOYA OF IMTAvH (PERU), DR. JORGE ALVAR OF CNMVIS (SPAIN) AND DR. DOUGLAS BARKER OF UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE (ENGLAND) ARE DEEPLY COMMITTED TO IMPROVEMENT OF DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS FOR LEISHMANIASIS AND CURRENTLY COLLABORATE IN OTHER PROJECTS.
THE PERUVIAN AND SPANISH GROUPS WILL PREPARE cDNA LIBRARIES OF THE LEISHMANIA SPECIES INVOLVED (L. BRAZILIENSIS, L. INFANTUM) AND GENERATE TESTS FOR ATL AND VL USING LARGE PANELS OF SERA FROM KNOWN PATIENTS, DOGS AND CONTROLS. THE BRITISH GROUP WILL PROVIDE BASIC TECHNICAL EXPERTISE AND SUPPORT MUCH OF THE TRAINING.
WE WILL USE THE POWER OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY TECHNOLOGIES TO OBTAIN SPECIFIC RECOMBINANTG PEPTIDES RECOGNIZED BY LARGE PANELS OF SERA FROM KNOWN VL AND ATL PATIENTS, AND THEN APPLY THEM TO THE DESIGN OF EFFECTIVE, HIGHLY SENSITIVE, LOW-COST PROCEDURES: ENZYME LINKED IMMUNOSORBENT (ELISA) AND PHAGE DOPT ARRAY IMMUNOASSAY.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Data not available

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

Data not available

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

CSC - Cost-sharing contracts

Coordinator

UNIVERSIDAD PERUANA CAYETANO HEREDIA
EU contribution
No data
Address
430,Avda Honorio Delgado 430-Urb. Ingeniera- SMP
31 LIMA
Peru

See on map

Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data

Participants (1)

My booklet 0 0