ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2015
Identification of the Mycobacterium ulcerans protein MUL_3720 as a promising target for the development of a diagnostic test for Buruli ulcer.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Glycan-mediated adhesion mechanisms in antibiotic-resistant bacteria.BBA advances · 2025Article
- A single synthetic lipid antigen for improved serological diagnosis of Buruli ulcer.Public health action · 2023Article
- Immunohistochemistry: A Method to Analyze M. ulcerans Infected Skin Tissue.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2022Article
- The cell surface protein MUL_3720 confers binding of the skin pathogen Mycobacterium ulcerans to sulfated glycans and keratin.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Article
- Article
- Integrated Management of Skin NTDs-Lessons Learned from Existing Practice and Field Research.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2018Review
- Buruli Ulcer: a Review of the Current Knowledge.Current tropical medicine reports · 2018Review
- Generation of monoclonal antibodies against native viral proteins using antigen-expressing mammalian cells for mouse immunization.BMC biotechnology · 2016Article
- The "Buruli Score": Development of a Multivariable Prediction Model for Diagnosis of Mycobacterium ulcerans Infection in Individuals with Ulcerative Skin Lesions, Akonolinga, Cameroon.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2016Article
- Generation of Plasmodium falciparum parasite-inhibitory antibodies by immunization with recombinantly-expressed CyRPA.Malaria journal · 2016Article
- Vaccination with the Surface Proteins MUL_2232 and MUL_3720 of Mycobacterium ulcerans Induces Antibodies but Fails to Provide Protection against Buruli Ulcer.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2016Article
- Clinical and Laboratory Diagnosis of Buruli Ulcer Disease: A Systematic Review.The Canadian journal of infectious diseases & medical microbiology = Journal canadien des maladies infectieuses et de la microbiologie medicale · 2016Review
- Use of Recombinant Virus Replicon Particles for Vaccination against Mycobacterium ulcerans Disease.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Buruli ulcer (BU) caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans is a devastating skin disease, occurring mainly in remote West African communities with poor access to health care. Early case detection and subsequent antibiotic treatment are essential to counteract the progression of the characteristic chronic ulcerative lesions. Since the accuracy of clinical BU diagnosis is limited, laboratory reconfirmation is crucial. However, currently available diagnostic techniques with sufficient sensitivity and specificity require infrastructure and resources only accessible at a few reference centres in the African endemic countries. Hence, the development of a simple, rapid, sensitive and specific point-of-care diagnostic tool is one of the major research priorities for BU. In this study, we have identified a previously unknown M. ulcerans protein, MUL_3720, as a promising target for antigen capture-based detection assays. We show that MUL_3720 is highly expressed by M. ulcerans and has no orthologs in other prevalent pathogenic mycobacteria. We generated a panel of anti-MUL_3720 antibodies and used them to confirm a cell wall location for MUL_3720. These antibodies could also specifically detect M. ulcerans in infected human tissue samples as well as in lysates of infected mouse footpads. A bacterial 2-hybrid screen suggested a potential role for MUL_3720 in cell wall biosynthesis pathways. Finally, we demonstrate that a combination of MUL_3720 specific antibody reagents in a sandwich-ELISA format has sufficient sensitivity to make them suitable for the development of antigen capture-based diagnostic tests for BU.
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