A novel pan-proteome array for high-throughput profiling of the humoral response to Treponema pallidum

Joseph J Campo; Emily Romeis; Amit Oberai; Jozelyn V Pablo; Christopher Hung; Andy A Teng; Adam D Shandling; Amber Phan; Austin M Haynes; Lorenzo Giacani

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2024.110618

A novel pan-proteome array for high-throughput profiling of the humoral response to Treponema pallidum

iScience. 2024 Jul 31;27(9):110618. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110618. eCollection 2024 Sep 20.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Antigen Discovery, Inc., Irvine, CA, USA.
² Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
³ Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.

Abstract

Given the resurgence of syphilis, research endeavors to improve current assays for serological diagnosis and management of this disease are a priority. A proteome-scale platform for high-throughput profiling of the humoral response to Treponema pallidum (T. pallidum) proteins during infection could identify antigens suitable to ameliorate the performance and capabilities of treponemal tests for syphilis. Additionally, because infection-induced immunity is partially protective, profiling the response to T. pallidum outer membrane proteins (OMPs) could help select vaccine candidates. Therefore, we developed a pan-proteome array (PPA) based on the Nichols and SS14 strain complete proteomes and used it to define the immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG humoral response to T. pallidum proteins in sera collected longitudinally from long-term infected rabbits and from rabbits that were infected, treated, and re-infected. We identified antigens that could facilitate early diagnosis and immunity to a core set of OMP that could explain protection upon reinfection.

Keywords: Bacteriology; Diagnostics; Immune response; Model organism; Proteomics.