Background
Timely diagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii infection is necessary to prevent and control toxoplasmosis transmission. The gold immunochromatographic assay (GICA) is a means of rapidly detecting pathogen in samples. GICA-based diagnostic
Conclusions
This study presents a novel assay that enables timely and efficient detection of serum antibodies against T. gondii, thereby allowing for its early clinical diagnosis. Furthermore, the integration of digital detection using HMREADER can enhance the implementation of GICA.
Methods
Colloidal gold test strips were produced using T. gondii C-terminal truncated apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1C). Colloidal gold-AMA1C and colloidal gold-murine protein conjugate were synthesized under optimal conditions. A nitrocellulose membrane was treated with AMA1C and goat anti-mouse antibody as the test line and control line, respectively. In total, 90 cat serum samples were tested using AMA1C-GICA and a commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. The GICA
Results
AMA1C-GICA had a detection threshold of 1:32 for T. gondii-positive serum. The GICA strips specifically detected T. gondii antibodies and exhibited no reactivity with Plasmodium vivax, Paragonimus kellicotti, Schistosoma japonicum, Clonorchis sinensis, and Schistosoma mansoni. Consequently, 15 (16.7%) positive samples were detected using the AMA1C-GICA and commercial ELISA kits for each of the assays. The receiver-operating characteristic curve showed that GICA had a relative sensitivity of 85.3% and specificity of 92%, with an area under the curve of 98%. After analyzing clinical samples using HMREADER, 1.2%-23.4% of these samples were found to be positive for T. gondii. Conclusions: This study presents a novel assay that enables timely and efficient detection of serum antibodies against T. gondii, thereby allowing for its early clinical diagnosis. Furthermore, the integration of digital detection using HMREADER can enhance the implementation of GICA.