Neurocysticercosis serodiagnosis: mimotope-based synthetic peptide as potential biomarker

Herein, we evaluate a mimotope-based synthetic peptidenamed NC₄1 to diagnose neurocysticercosis (NC), a neglected parasitic disease and a major cause of epilepsy worldwide. NC₄1 synthetic peptide was evaluated to diagnose NC, and total saline extract from Taenia solium metacestodes (SE) was used as control. Serum samples from patients with NC (n = 40), other parasitic diseases (n = 43), and healthy individuals (n = 40) were tested. Diagnostic parameters such as sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), likelihood ratio (LR), and area under curve (AUC) were calculated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The sequence from T. solium phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) was used for epitope prediction, resulting in one high-scoring patch centered at residue L247. NC₄1 synthetic peptide reached high diagnostic performance (Se 97.5% and Sp 97.5%, LR+ 39 and AUC 0.997). Data from diagnostic parameters and in silico analyses proved the usefulness of NC₄1 synthetic peptide as a diagnostic marker for human NC.