Simple and promising paper-based electrochemical platform for serological detection of American tegumentary leishmaniasis

BARRAZA DANIELA E.; NANNI, PAULA I.; BRACAMONTE, MARIA E.; CHAILE, ROBERTO E.; GOY, CARLA B.; ACUÑA, LEONARDO; JORGE DIEGO MARCO; MADRID, ROSSANA E.

Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz

Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz

Año: 2024

1678-8060

BACKGROUND American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL) is an endemic neglected tropical disease (NTD), its conventional treatment is toxic, slow, and invasive. Rapid diagnosis is crucial for the clinical management of suspected patients, so the development and use of low-cost, miniaturized devices, could be the key in these areas. OBJECTIVES This work aimed to develop a simple paper-based electrochemical platform for the serological detection of ATL. METHODS Platform was fabricated in Whatman N°1 paper, contains a hydrophobic zone generated by wax printing, two pencil graphite electrodes, and uses specific crude extracts (CA) antigens for ATL immuno-determination. The platform performance was analyzed by measuring the relative impedance change for different antigen-antibody combinations. Then, 10 serum human samples previously diagnosed by the gold standard (5 positive ATL cases and 5 non-ATL cases) were evaluated.FINDINGS The platform presented a linear response for the charge transfer resistance (ΔRct) and the interface reactance (ΔXc). Also, optimal working conditions were established (1/60 serum dilution and 180 µg/mL CA concentration). Then, the platform permits to distinguish between ATL and non-ATL (p < 0.05) human serum samples.MAIN CONCLUSIONS Our platform could allow the diagnosis, management, and monitoring of leishmaniasis while being an extremely simple and environmentally friendly technology.