TY - JOUR
T1 - Diagnostic performance of the ZEUS Borrelia VlsE1/pepC10 assay in European LB patients
T2 - a case–control study
AU - Baarsma, M E
AU - Vrijlandt, A
AU - Ursinus, J
AU - Zaaijer, H L
AU - Jurriaans, S
AU - van Dam, A P
AU - Hovius, J W
N1 - Funding Information: The assays for this project were supplied free of charge by ITK Diagnostics (Uithoorn, The Netherlands) on behalf of ZEUS Scientific. Neither company had any role in the acquisition of the study data, analyses thereof or manuscript preparation. This study was supported by a grant to JWH and AV from the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund and the Interreg North Sea Region Programme 2014–2020 as part of the NorthTick project (reference number J-No: 38–2-7–19). Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/11/22
Y1 - 2021/11/22
N2 - This retrospective case-control study assesses the sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve of the ZEUS Borrelia VlsE1/pepC10 assay in comparison with the C6-ELISA in European patients with Lyme borreliosis, healthy blood donors, and potentially cross-reactive controls. We included a convenience series of 161 sera from patients with physician-confirmed early localized or disseminated Lyme borreliosis (n = 143), 400 sera from healthy blood donors and 44 sera with potentially cross-reactive antibodies, on which we performed the aforementioned serological assays and the recomLine immunoblot. Diagnostic parameters were compared in various single-tier and two-tier algorithms. The specificities of the C6-ELISA and the ZEUS Borrelia VlsE1/pepC10 were comparable in healthy blood donors (e.g., single-tier permissive: C6: 362/400, 90.5% [87.2–93.2]; VlsE1/pepC10: 361/400, 90.3% [86.9–93.0]). The C6-ELISA had an apparently higher sensitivity in EM sera (e.g., both time points combined: C6: 61/76, 80.3% [69.5–88.5]; VlsE1/pepC10: 54/76, 71.1% [59.5–80.9]), but these differences were all not-significant. Interestingly, the VlsE1/pepC10 assay had a significantly higher specificity in sera with potentially cross-reactive antibodies (e.g., single-tier permissive: C6: 34/44, 77.3% [62.2–88.5]; VlsE1/pepC10: 40/44, 90.9% [78.3–97.5]; p = 0.031). While the areas under the curve for both assays were excellent, that of the C6-ELISA exceeded that of the VlsE1/pepC10 (C6: AUC = 0.925; VlsE1/pepC10: AUC = 0.878; p = 0.003). The novel ZEUS Borrelia VlsE1/pepC10 assay has generally comparable diagnostic parameters to the C6-ELISA with potentially improved specificity in cross-reactive sera. Thus, it is a useful tool for the serodiagnosis of Lyme borreliosis in Europe.
AB - This retrospective case-control study assesses the sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve of the ZEUS Borrelia VlsE1/pepC10 assay in comparison with the C6-ELISA in European patients with Lyme borreliosis, healthy blood donors, and potentially cross-reactive controls. We included a convenience series of 161 sera from patients with physician-confirmed early localized or disseminated Lyme borreliosis (n = 143), 400 sera from healthy blood donors and 44 sera with potentially cross-reactive antibodies, on which we performed the aforementioned serological assays and the recomLine immunoblot. Diagnostic parameters were compared in various single-tier and two-tier algorithms. The specificities of the C6-ELISA and the ZEUS Borrelia VlsE1/pepC10 were comparable in healthy blood donors (e.g., single-tier permissive: C6: 362/400, 90.5% [87.2–93.2]; VlsE1/pepC10: 361/400, 90.3% [86.9–93.0]). The C6-ELISA had an apparently higher sensitivity in EM sera (e.g., both time points combined: C6: 61/76, 80.3% [69.5–88.5]; VlsE1/pepC10: 54/76, 71.1% [59.5–80.9]), but these differences were all not-significant. Interestingly, the VlsE1/pepC10 assay had a significantly higher specificity in sera with potentially cross-reactive antibodies (e.g., single-tier permissive: C6: 34/44, 77.3% [62.2–88.5]; VlsE1/pepC10: 40/44, 90.9% [78.3–97.5]; p = 0.031). While the areas under the curve for both assays were excellent, that of the C6-ELISA exceeded that of the VlsE1/pepC10 (C6: AUC = 0.925; VlsE1/pepC10: AUC = 0.878; p = 0.003). The novel ZEUS Borrelia VlsE1/pepC10 assay has generally comparable diagnostic parameters to the C6-ELISA with potentially improved specificity in cross-reactive sera. Thus, it is a useful tool for the serodiagnosis of Lyme borreliosis in Europe.
KW - Borrelia
KW - C6
KW - Lyme borreliosis
KW - Serology
KW - VlsE
KW - pepC10
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119484948&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-021-04372-6
DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-021-04372-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 34806121
SN - 0934-9723
JO - European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases
JF - European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases
ER -