RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Rezende, Andrea de Fátima Silva A1 Brum, Alexandre Antunes A1 Reis, Carlos Guilherme A1 Angelo, Henrique Ramos A1 Leal, Karen Silva A1 Silva, Mara Thais de Oliveira A1 Simionatto, Simone A1 Azevedo, Vasco A1 Santos, Anderson A1 Portela, Ricardo Wagner A1 Dellagostin, Odir A1 Borsuk, SibeleYR 2016 T1 In silico identification of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis antigenic targets and application in immunodiagnosis JF Journal of Medical Microbiology, VO 65 IS 6 SP 521 OP 529 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.000263 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1473-5644, AB Caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) is a disease caused by Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis. It affects mainly small ruminants and causes significant economic losses worldwide. Because symptoms are not immediately noticeable, CLA clinical diagnosis is not effective. Numerous serological tests are being developed to detect the disease in asymptomatic animals, but currently available immunoassays have problems with sensitivity. Current ELISA formats use native bacterial antigens, and recombinant proteins could be useful for improving the immunoassay parameters. The C. pseudotuberculosis proteins CP0126a, CP0369 and CP1957 were identified from 2097 candidate proteins by mature epitope density (MED) analysis, expressed in Escherichia coli and evaluated in an indirect immunoenzymic system. The CP0126a, CP0369 and CP1957 ELISAs showed 77.5 %, 92.5 % and 92.5 % specificity and 95 %, 90 % and 85 % sensitivity, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed an area under the curve of 0.874, 0.951 and 0.881, respectively. The proteins identified in silico were recognized by antibodies in the sera from infected animals without being recognized in negative samples. The ELISA assay using the rCP0369 protein as antigen had the greatest specificity and sensitivity values, followed by rCP1957. This is an interesting strategy for seroepidemiological investigations in sheep flocks due to its significant specificity and sensitivity., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.000263