Application of monoclonal anti-mycolate antibodies in serological diagnosis of tuberculosis

Abstract

Patient loss to follow-up caused by centralised and expensive diagnostics that are reliant on sputum is a major obstacle in the fight to end tuberculosis. An affordable, non-sputum biomarker-based, point-of-care deployable test is needed to address this. Serum antibodies binding the mycobacterial cell wall lipids, mycolic acids, have shown promise as biomarkers for active tuberculosis. However, anti-lipid antibodies are of low affinity, making them difficult to detect in a lateral flow immunoassay—a technology widely deployed at the point-of-care. Previously, recombinant monoclonal anti-mycolate antibodies were developed and applied to characterise the antigenicity of mycolic acid. We now demonstrate that these anti-mycolate antibodies specifically detect hexane extracts of mycobacteria. Secondary antibody-mediated detection was applied to detect the displacement of the monoclonal mycolate antibodies by the anti-mycolic acid antibodies present in tuberculosis-positive guinea pig and human serum samples. These data establish proof-of-concept for a novel lateral flow immunoassay for tuberculosis provisionally named MALIA—mycolate antibody lateral flow immunoassay.

Description

DATA AVAILABILITY : The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author

Keywords

Tuberculosis (TB), Non-sputum-based diagnosis, Point-of-care, Lateral flow immunoassay, Biomarker, Mycolic acid

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG-03: Good health and well-being

Citation

Truyts, A.; Du Preez, I.; Maesela, E.M.; Scriba, M.R.; Baillie, L.; Jones, A.T.; Land, K.J.; Verschoor, J.A.; Lemmer, Y. Application of Monoclonal Anti-Mycolate Antibodies in Serological Diagnosis of Tuberculosis. Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease 2024, 9, 269. https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed9110269.