The significance of detecting human cytomegalovirus UL95 antigenic epitope peptide in the diagnosis of SLE
10.3760/cma.j.cn114452-20240723-00400
- VernacularTitle:人巨细胞病毒UL95抗原表位肽段测定在SLE诊断中的意义
- Author:
Ya HU
1
;
Chenyu XU
;
Wei QIANG
;
Huidi ZHANG
;
Fangfang FENG
Author Information
1. 温州医科大学附属第一医院肾内科，温州325000
- Keywords:
Cytomegalovirus;
Lupus erythematosus, systemic;
Antigen, B-cell
- From:
Chinese Journal of Laboratory Medicine
2024;47(9):1042-1051
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To explore the clinical significance of the dominant B-cell epitope peptide of the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) UL95 gene, as well as the correlation between the plasma UL95 specific antibody levels and clinical indicators in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, in order to find auxiliary diagnostic indicators for SLE.Methods:A non-randomized control study was conducted to analyze the sequencial characteristics and polymorphisms of HCMV UL95 gene, and bioinformatics analysis and chemical synthesis were used to synthesize UL95 dominant B cell epitope short peptides, which were used as coating antigens. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) assay was used to detect the specific antibody levels of plasma UL95 of 97 SLE patients and 35 healthy controls (HC). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of UL95 short peptide antibodies for SLE diagnosis. Pearson correlation test was used to analyze the correlation between UL95 specific antibody levels and clinical indicators in SLE patients.Results:The nucleotide sequence similarity of UL95 gene was 92.9%-100%, and the amino acid sequence similarity was 92.1%-100%, whose sequences were highly conserved and homologous. A comprehensive prediction of multiple parameters resulted in 6 possible dominant B cell epitopes, named (Bp1, Bp2, Bp3, Bp4, Bp5, Bp6) respectively. The ELISA results showed that the levels of plasma UL95 specific antibodies (0.35±0.12) in SLE patients were significantly higher than those of the HC group (0.28±0.10)( t=3.091, P=0.002). The area under the ROC curve for distinguishing SLE and HC was 0.703, with a sensitivity of 54.6% and a specificity of 88.6%. In addition, the UL95 specifific antibody levels ( OD value) in the middle-high activity subgroup (systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index, SLEDAI≥4) were higher (0.36±0.10) than those in the low activity subgroup (SLEDAI<4)(0.30±0.07) ( t=?2.055, P=0.044). UL95 specific antibody levels were positively correlated with clinical indicators such as total immunoglobulin G (IgG) and total immunoglobulin M (IgM), while negatively correlated with complement component 3 (C3), complement component 4 (C4), and platelet count. Conclusions:The antibody level of UL95 is closely related to the activity of lupus disease. The Bp1 (10-21) peptide segment of UL95 has important significance for the auxiliary diagnosis of SLE and is expected to become a new reference indicator.
