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Lyme borreliosis, an infectious disease caused by tick-borne spirochetes of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex, is regarded as the most commonly reported vector-borne infection in the Northern Hemisphere. Currently, the basis for laboratory diagnosis of Lyme disease is a two-step serological examination. The first is an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). If the test result is positive or questionable, a Western blot is used as the second phase test. In both methods, the total cell lysates of B. burgdorferi s.l. are used as the main source of antigens. However, the huge diversity of genospecies within B. burgdorferi s.l. and the low degree of preservation of the sequence of their proteins means that using the cell lysates of one of the species is not sufficient to correctly diagnose Lyme disease. Numerous literature reports show that the use of B. burgdorferi s.l. recombinant or chimeric antigens may be a potential solution to problems occurring in Lyme disease immunodiagnosis. However, for diagnostic tests based on recombinant proteins to be as effective as possible, carefully selected antigens or fragments should be used. With this approach, a test can be developed with a sensitivity that remains independent of the B. burgdorferi s.l. species which caused the disease. In addition, the exclusive use of protein fragments may definitely reduce the frequency of cross-reactions.

Five chromosomally encoded proteins, BB0108, BB0126, BB0298, BB0323, and BB0689, from Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.), were obtained in three variants each, representing the most common genospecies found in Europe (Borrelia afzelii, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (s.s.), and Borrelia garinii). The reactivity of these recombinant proteins with the IgM and IgG antibodies present in human serum was assessed using Western blot (WB) and the ELISA. In IgG-WB, the proteins exhibited varying reactivity, peaking at approximately 40–50% for BB0108 and BB0689. However, none of these proteins were recognized by specific antibodies in the IgM-WB. The sensitivity of IgG-ELISA based on three variants of BB0108 and BB0323 ranged from 71% to 82% and from 62% to 72%, respectively. Conversely, the specificity of both tested proteins was consistently above 82%. Tests utilizing single variants of BB0323 did not yield any diagnostic value in detecting IgM antibodies. However, BB0108 demonstrated recognition by antibodies present in 52% to 63% of the tested sera. These antigens appear advantageous due to the consistent reactivity observed across their variants. This observation suggests that appropriate selection of antigens conserved within B. burgdorferi s.l. could offer a solution to the issue of variable sensitivity encountered in serodiagnostic tests across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toxoplasmosis represents a significant public health and veterinary concern due to its widespread distribution, zoonotic transmission, and potential for severe health impacts in susceptible individuals and animal populations. The ability to design and produce recombinant proteins with precise antigenic properties is fundamental, as they serve as tools for accurate disease detection and effective immunization strategies, contributing to improved healthcare outcomes and disease control. Most commonly, a prokaryotic expression system is employed for the production of both single antigens and multi-epitope chimeric proteins; however, the cloning strategies, bacterial strain, vector, and expression conditions vary. Moreover, literature reports show the use of alternative microbial systems such as yeast or Leishmania tarentolae. This review provides an overview of the methods and strategies employed for the production of recombinant Toxoplasma gondii antigenic proteins for the serological detection of T. gondii infection and vaccine development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Toxoplasmosis, caused by Toxoplasma gondii, is a significant disease in livestock and humans. Because of medical and veterinary importance it is essential to study the prevalence of T. gondii infection among human and animals in various parts of the word. In this study, 4033 cattle from eight provinces of Northern Poland (belonging to 190 herds) were tested for IgG antibodies against T. gondii by an in-house ELISA technique based on native Toxoplasma lysate antigen. The diagnostic sensitivity of test used in this study was 96.3%, and specificity was 98% for the group of 77 cattle sera (27 seropositive and 50 seronegative) previously characterized with the use of agglutination and immunofluorescence methods. A 127 (3.15%) out of all tested animals belonging to 72 (37.9%) out of 190 herds were founded as positive. Furthermore, our results showed that the way of feeding and farming, the size of the herd and the age of animals have the influence on the prevalence of toxoplasmosis among cattle. The percentage of infected cattle was the highest for old animals which belongs to the small herds with the traditional way of farming. These results indicate that T. gondii infection in cattle from Northern Poland is relatively low and consumption of beef and milk can be regarded as a poor source of infection for humans.