Tape-disc-loop-mediated isothermal amplification (TD-LAMP) method as noninvasive approach for diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by L. tropica
Yasaman Taslimi,
Sima Habibzadeh,
Vahid Mashayekhi Goyonlo,
Amin Akbarzadeh,
Zahra Azarpour,
Safoora Gharibzadeh,
Mehrdad Shokouhy,
Josefine Persson,
Ali M. Harandi,
Amir Mizbani,
Sima Rafati
Affiliations
Yasaman Taslimi
Department of Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
Sima Habibzadeh
Department of Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
Vahid Mashayekhi Goyonlo
Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Amin Akbarzadeh
Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Zahra Azarpour
Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Safoora Gharibzadeh
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
Mehrdad Shokouhy
Department of Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
Josefine Persson
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Ali M. Harandi
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden; Vaccine Evaluation Center, BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Corresponding author. Dr. Ali M. Harandi, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Amir Mizbani
ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Sima Rafati
Department of Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran; Corresponding author.
Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a parasitic disease caused by the bite of infectious female sand flies with high socioeconomic burdens. There is currently no non-invasive, point-of-care, diagnostic method with high sensitivity and specificity available for CL. We herein report the development of a non-invasive tape disc (TD) sampling method combined with a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay using primer sets targeting kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) of Leishmania tropica (L. tropica) with a colorimetric readout for species-specific diagnosis of CL. We tested our Tape-Disc (TD)-LAMP method on a panel of skin samples collected by TD from 35 confirmed L. tropica patients, 35 healthy individuals and 35 patients with non-L. tropica infections. The detection limit of the TD-LAMP assay was determined as 1 fg (fg), and the assay sensitivity and specificity of 97 % and 100 % for L. tropica infection, respectively. This non-invasive, sensitive and rapid diagnostic method warrants further exploration of its use for differential diagnosis of CL in disease endemic settings.
