Robustness evaluation of monoclonal antibodies against Shiga toxins and termo-labile toxin from Escherichia coli

• Grant number: 10/06214-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2010
• End date: December 31, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Applied Microbiology
• Principal Investigator: Denise Silvina Piccini Quintas Horton
• Grantee: Andressa Caravelli
• Host Institution: Instituto Butantan. Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Diarrheal diseases are important causes of morbidity and mortality in children under age of five, especially in countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Global analyses indicate a decline in mortality, but not in the incidence of the illness. In Brazil, important indices of infantile mortality for diarrhea still exist although the politics implanted since 1970 have lead to a significant decrease of this pathology. In this context, the diagnosis is an important tool to minimize and to control disease occurrences. Diagnosis of enteric infections caused by diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) can be performed by a combination of culture and nucleic acid-based methods, immunologic tests or biologic assays, mainly based on the detection of virulence-associated characteristics, which is extremely expensive and not carried out in routine laboratory. So, in the Bacteriology Laboratory of the Butantan Institute, polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies against some virulence factors of enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) have been developed aiming to detect them in bacterial isolates. Therefore, evaluate the stability and robustness of the available monoclonal antibodies will contribute for the security of the methodology employed. (AU)