Evaluation of a Highly Sensitive Method of Measuring Syphilis TP Antibody, and a New Approach to Syphilis Testing

• Evaluation of a Highly Sensitive Method of Measuring Syphilis TP Antibody, and a New Approach to Syphilis Testing

AUTHOR(S)

Hiroshi SHIBATA, Hidehiko MORIYAMA, Yuki TANIGUCHI, Chikafumi MATSUDA and Atsushi NAGAI

Central Clinical Laboratory, Shimane University Hospital

SUMMARY

Syphilis is a typical systemic sexually transmitted disease that is caused by infection by Treponema pallidum ( TP ), a pathogenic spirochete. Immunoserological tests with serum samples are generally used for testing TP infection. These are typically TP antibody ( TP-Ab ) assays wherein a TP bacterial component is used as the antigen, and serological test for syphilis ( STS ) that uses the phospholipid cardiolipin as the antigen.

In recent years, along with the advancement of testing methods, syphilis TP-Ab testing has been automated and there have been considerable advances in improving sensitivity, speed and labor savings. We shall report here the results of basic investigations on TP-Ab measurements using a recombinant TP antigen ( TP-Ag ) and the automated immunoassay system HISCL-2000i  ( HISCL-2000i  ; Sysmex Corporation ) that uses a chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay ( CLEIA ), and describe the procedure of syphilis testing that incorporates this highly sensitive assay.

NOTE(S)

This article is reprinted from Kensa to Gijutsu 2009; 37 (13): 1472-1474, with kind permission from Igaku Shoin.