Concentration of Circulating Anodic Antigen for Low-Resource Diagnosis of Schistosomiasis

Faculty Sponsor

Dr. David W. Wright

Faculty Sponsor Email Address

david.wright@vanderbilt.edu

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/Program

Chemistry

Document Type

Poster Presentation

Date

Fall 10-27-2017

Abstract

Schistosomiasis is a water-borne parasite disease found in tropical regions, especially those with diminished access to clean water. Symptoms, including abdominal pain and chronic diarrhea, affect the ability of infected people to work or learn. Traditionally, schistosomiasis is diagnosed by a fecal smear, but this method requires trained personnel and an advanced infection. To overcome these challenges, a lateral flow assay has been developed which tests for Circulating Anodic Antigen (CAA), a negatively-charged glycoprotein produced by the parasites. This assay is easy to use and has high sensitivity, but concentrating CAA in the urine samples used would further improve it. Our objective was to use positively-charged dendrimers to concentrate CAA onto magnetic beads, which could then be deposited onto the assay. Using an ELISA, we determined the most effective conditions for capture and elution of CAA from the beads. Based on our optimizations, we chose a method which gave 75% recovery of CAA, approximately a 30-fold concentration increase. We also calculated single pg/mL limits of detection, comparable to the levels observed from a single worm pair. The method is currently being incorporated into a paper lateral flow assay which will be deliverable to endemic areas.

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