• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.158-169
• /
• 2004

Purpose : Although influenza is one of the most important cause of acute respiratory tract infections in children, virus isolation is not popular and there are only a few clinical studies on influenza and diagnostic methods. We evaluated the epidemiological and clinical features of influenza in children and rapid antigen detection test(QuickVue influenza test) on fist half of the year 2004 in Busan. Methods : From January 2004 to June 2004, throat swab and nasal secretion were obtained and cultured for the isolation of influenza virus and tested by rapid antigen detection test(QuickVue influenza test) in children with suspected influenza infections. The medical records of patients with influenza virus infection were reviewed retrospectively. Results : Influenza viruses were isolated in 79(17.2%) out of 621 patients examined. Influenza virus was isolated mainly from March to April 2004. The ratio of male and female with influenza virus infection was 1.2 : 1 with median age of 4 years 6month. The most common clinical diagnosis of influenza virus infection was bronchitis. There was no difference between influenza A and B infection in clinical diagnosis and symptoms. All patients recovered without severe complication. The sensitivity obtained for rapid antigen detection test (QuickVue influenza test) was 93.6% and the specificity was 80.2%, the positive predictive value 40.8%, the negative predictive value 98.8%. Conclusion : With rapid antigen detection test, it is possible early detection of influenza in children. reduction in use of antimicrobial agent and early use of antiviral agent.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.37-42
• /
• 2015

The aim of the present study was to compare the non-invasive methods for the diagnosis of H. felis with HpSA kit-based detection method and H. felis-specific PCR assay with dog's stool samples without sacrifice. Male Beagle dogs (n=6) were infected with H. felis ATCC 49179 ($1.0{\times}10^9CFU/dog$) by intra-gastric inoculation two times at 3-day intervals, and the stool specimens of dogs were collected 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21 days after infection to submit to HpSA test and H. felis-specific PCR. As the results, the sensitivity of the HpSA and the PCR analysis was 50.0%, 83.3% respectively. Although HpSA test is less sensitive, it could be used for rapid, cheap and easy screening assay for H. felis infection in dog and cats. We suggest that the H. pylori stool antigen kit, HpSA, is useful and effective for monitoring H. felis infection. If HpSA test would be made with H. felis antibodies in the future, its sensitivity could be increased. Also, PCR assay could be successfully used to detect the H. felis in stools. Applying the H. pylori stool antigen kit and PCR assay may be the recommended non-invasive strategy to identify H. felis in dog and cats.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.63-70
• /
• 2017

Selecting an appropriate antigen with optimal immunogenicity and physicochemical properties is a pivotal factor to develop a protein based subunit vaccine. Despite rapid progress in modern molecular cloning and recombinant protein technology, there remains a huge challenge for purifying and using protein antigens rich in hydrophobic domains, such as membrane associated proteins. To overcome current limitations using hydrophobic proteins as vaccine antigens, we adopted in silico analyses which included bioinformatic prediction and sequence-based protein 3D structure modeling, to develop a novel periodontitis subunit vaccine against the outer membrane protein FomA of Fusobacterium nucleatum. To generate an optimal antigen candidate, we predicted hydrophilicity and B cell epitope parameter by querying to web-based databases, and designed a truncated FomA (tFomA) candidate with better solubility and preserved B cell epitopes. The truncated recombinant protein was engineered to expose epitopes on the surface through simulating amino acid sequence-based 3D folding in aqueous environment. The recombinant tFomA was further expressed and purified, and its immunological properties were evaluated. In the mice intranasal vaccination study, tFomA significantly induced antigen-specific IgG and sIgA responses in both systemic and oral-mucosal compartments, respectively. Our results testify that intelligent in silico designing of antigens provide amenable vaccine epitopes from hard-to-manufacture hydrophobic domain rich microbial antigens.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.47 no.6
• /
• pp.757-767
• /
• 1999

Background: Diagnosis by smear and/or cultures of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis from body fluid or biopsy specimen is "Gold standard". However the sensitivity of the direct microscopy is relatively low and culture of mycobacteria is time consuming. Despite an explosion in the techniques of rapid identification of mycobacteria by molecular genetic means, it is laborious and expensive and then rapid, inexpensive serodiagnosis is interested in diagnosis of tuberculosis. But sensitivity and specificity of known serologic antigen is not full sufficient level and then new antigen develop and combination cocktails of new developed antigens by ELISA are needed. Method: To compare the efficacy of different mycobacterial specific antigen and to assess the applicability of the combination of several different antigens in the diagnosis of tuberculosis, five ELISA tests derived 14KDa, 16KDa, 19KDa, 23KDa, 38KDa were evaluated in 57 active pulmonary patient and 24 inactive post-therapy follow up patient and 48 normal control. Results: The optical densities of ELISA test with 14KDa, 16KDa, 19KDa, 23KDa, 38KDa were significantly higher in active tuberculosis cases than in normal control(P<0.001, P<0.001, P<0.027, P<0.001, P<0.001) and those with 16KDa, 38KDa were significant higher in active tuberculosis cases than in inactive post-therapy follow up cases(P<0.01. P<0.001) and those of 14KDa, 16KDa, 23KDa, 38KDa were significant higher in inactive post-therapy follow up cases than in normal control(P<0.008. P<0.01. P<0.006. P<0.001). The sensitivity of 14KDa, 16KDa, 19KDa, 23KDa, 38KDa in active pulmonary patient cases was 42.1%, 43.9%, 15.8%, 28.0%, 70.2%, respectively and the specificity of 14KDa, 16KDa, 19KDa, 23KDa, 38KDa in active pulmonary patient cases was 95.8%, 95.8%, 91.7%, 89.6%, 93.8%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of combination 38KDa with 16KDa was 87% and 93.7%. Conclusion: The sensitivity and specificity of new antigens for serodiagnosis of the tuberculosis still remains limited at around 70%, which makes its a poor diagnostic tool for disease confirmation. A combination of cocktail antigens provided by cut-off value adjustment for serodiagnosis of tuberculosis some improved diagnostic yield than single antigen serologic test.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
• /
• v.45 no.3
• /
• pp.201-209
• /
• 2022

An epidemiological study was conducted to investigate five diarrhea-causing pathogens (coronavirus, rotavirus, E. coli, Cryptosporidium, Giardia) using a rapid diagnostic kit in Hanwoo calves with diarrhea in Chungcheongbuk-do, Korea, from 2018 to 2021. A total of 22,417 fecal samples were collected from calves under 1 year of age; of those, 13,518 (60.3%) were positive for five bovine diarrhea antigens. The antigen positivity rates for rotavirus, coronavirus, E. coli, Giardia, and Cryptosporidium were 34.5%, 11.0%, 8.2%, 4.7%, and 2.0%, respectively. The prevalence of the five pathogens in calves was statistically higher in autumn and winter. The highest prevalence of the pathogens was observed in the under 1 month age group, and the incidence of diarrhea decreased with age. Rotavirus was a major pathogen in calves under 1 month of age, whereas the prevalence of E. coli increased with age. This study provides epidemiological evidence of the prevalence of calf diarrheal pathogens in Chungcheongbuk-do, Korea, which will facilitate early diagnosis and development of measures against calf diarrhea.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.28 no.10
• /
• pp.1683-1690
• /
• 2018

Accurate and rapid diagnosis of influenza infection is essential to enable early antiviral treatment and reduce the mortality associated with seasonal and epidemic infections. Immunochromatography is one of the most common methods used for the diagnosis of seasonal human influenza; however, it is less effective in diagnosing pandemic influenza virus. Currently, rapid diagnostic kits for pandemic influenza virus rely on the detection of nucleoprotein (NP) or hemagglutinin (HA). NP detection shows higher specificity and is more sensitive than HA detection. In this study, we time-dependently screened expression conditions, and herein report optimal conditions for the expression of recombinant nucleoprotein (rNP), which was 48 h after infection. In addition, we report the use of the expressed rNP in a rapid influenza diagnostic test (SGT i-flex Influenza A&B Test). We constructed expression vectors that synthesized rNP (antigen) of influenza A and B in insect cells (Sf9 cells), employed the purified rNP to the immunoassay test kit, and clearly distinguished NPs of influenza A and influenza B using this rapid influenza diagnostic kit. This approach may improve the development of rapid test kits for influenza using NP.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.206-212
• /
• 1998

An improved antibody-coated sensor system based on quartz crystal microbalance was developed for the detection of Salmonella spp. An antibody against Salmonella common structural antigen was immobilized onto one gold electrode of the piezoelectric quartz crystal surface by various immobilization procedures. The best results in sensitivity and stability were obtained with the thin layers of protein A and 3,3'-dithiopropionimidate.2HCI(DTBP), a homobifunctional thiol-cleavable crosslinker. After the addition of a S. typhimurium suspension into a reaction cell with 0.1 M sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.2, the resonant frequency owing to S. typhimurium adsorption decreased conspicuously. The antibody-immobilized crystals prepared by the gold-protein A complex formation and DTBP thiolation showed the frequency shifts of 80 and 283 Hz, respectively. The time required for maximum frequency shift was about 30~60 min. The antibody-coated crystal could be reused for 6~8 consecutive assays.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.27-35
• /
• 1989

To develop more specific and sensitive diagnostic methods for infectious bovine rhinotracheitis, 7-C-2 monoclonal antibody specific to polypeptides of infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus (IBRV) was applied in indirect immunofluorescence antibody assay (IFA), indirect immunoperoxidase assay(IPA) and radial immunodiffusion enzyme assay (RIDEA). It was found that IBRV infected in MDBK cells could be detected as early as 8 hours post infection by IFA, and that IFA was more rapid and specific to identify IBRV antigen than IPA. The diagnostic efficacy of RIDEA and SN test was studied with 88 bovine sera. It was evident that RIDEA could eliminate the false positive reaction encountered in serum neutralization(SN) test, being more rapid and sensitive than the latter. Highly significant correlation coefficiency (r=0.76, p<0.01) was evaluated between the titers of sera and the diameters of RIDEA. Tracheal membranes and sera collected from 96 slaughtered cattle with lesions in respiratory organs were examined to detect IBRV antigen and antibody by IFA, RIDEA and SN test. It was presented that positive rates were 32.3% in IFA, 20.8% in RIDEA and 21.9% in SN test, and that coincidence rate between RIDEA and SN test were 100% in positive sera and 98.7% in negative sera. In conclusion, it was assumed that application of monoclonal antibody could improve the diagnostic efficacy of IBR by enhancing sensitivity and specificity of IPA, IFA and RIDEA.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.50.1-50.12
• /
• 2022

Background: There is an urgent need to find reliable and rapid bovine tuberculosis (bTB) diagnostics in response to the rising prevalence of bTB worldwide. Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) recognizes components of bTB and initiates antigen-presenting cells to mediate humoral immunity. Evaluating the affinity of antigens with TLR2 can form the basis of a new method for the diagnosis of bTB based on humoral immunity. Objectives: To develop a reliable and rapid strategy to improve diagnostic tools for bTB. Methods: In this study, we expressed and purified the sixteen bTB-specific recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli. The two antigenic proteins, MPT70 and MPT83, which were most valuable for serological diagnosis of bTB were screened. Molecular docking technology was used to analyze the affinity of MPT70, MPT83, dominant epitope peptide of MPT70 (M1), and dominant epitope peptide MPT83 (M2) with TLR2, combined with the detection results of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to evaluate the molecular docking effect. Results: The results showed that interaction surface Cα-atom root mean square deviation of proteins (M1, M2, MPT70, MPT83)-TLR2 protein are less than 2.5 A, showing a high affinity. It is verified by clinical serum samples that MPT70, MPT83, MPT70-MPT83 showed good diagnostic potential for the detection of anti-bTB IgG and M1, M2 can replace the whole protein as the detection antigen. Conclusions: Molecular docking to evaluate the affinity of bTB protein and TLR2 combined with ELISA provides new insights for the diagnosis of bTB.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.49 no.3
• /
• pp.207-212
• /
• 2011

Rapid serodiagnostic methods for Toxoplasma gondii infection in cats are urgently needed for effective control of transmission routes toward human infections. In this work, 4 recombinant T. gondii antigens (SAG1, SAG2, GRA3, and GRA6) were produced and tested for the development of rapid diagnostic test (RDT). The proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli, affinity-purified, and applied onto the nitrocellulose membrane of the test strip. The recombinant SAG1 (rSAG1) showed the strongest antigenic activity and highest specificity among them. We also performed clinical evaluation of the rSAG1-loaded RDT in 182 cat sera (55 household and 127 stray cats). The kit showed 0.88 of kappa value comparing with a commercialized ELISA kit, which indicated a significant correlation between rSAG1-loaded RDT and the ELISA kit. The overall sensitivity and specificity of the RDT were 100% (23/23) and 99.4% (158/159), respectively. The rSAG1-loaded RDT is rapid, easy to use, and highly accurate. Thus, it would be a suitable diagnostic tool for rapid detection of antibodies in T. gondii-infected cats under field conditions.