TsPKA-r: a potential immunodiagnostic antigen for the detection of porcine cysticercosis

Abstract Cysticercosis, caused by metacestodes of Taenia solium , has a significant soci-economic impact and is of considerable importance in public health. However, there are no specific diagnostic antigens to distinguish between T. solim and Taenia hydatigena . In the present study, cAMP-dependent protein kinase regulatory subunit ( Ts PKA-r), an excretory/secretary (ES) antigen of T. solium , was used to establish a specific and sensitive diagnostic tool for detection of porcine cysticercosis. The full-length sequence encoding Ts PKA-r was amplified by PCR, sequenced and then identified by bioinformatics. The fusion protein with 6 × His-tags was expressed in E. coli , purified by Ni Sepharose™ 6 Fast Flow and used to test reactionogenicity by immunoblotting. Ts PKA-r based indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (iELISA) showed good performance in recognition of sera of pigs experimentally infected with T. solium metacestodes, with 93.88% sensitivity and 96.40% specificity. There were no cross-reactions against the sera from pigs experimentally infected with T. hydatigena , Toxoplasma gondii or Trichinella spiralis . These results indicate that the Ts PKA-r is a promising immunodiagnostic antigen for detection of porcine cysticercosis.