Detection of Leishmania donovani infection using magnetic beads-based serum peptide profiling by MALDI-TOF MS in mice model.

Leishmaniasis is an important parasitic disease, and definite diagnosis using a specific and sensitive method is the first step to cure the disease. Here, we present a novel diagnostic strategy based on serum peptide profiling by magnetic beads and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The serum peptides from the Leishmani donovani-infected and healthy mice were enriched by the optimized magnetic beads. The mass spectrograms were acquired by MALDI-TOF MS and analyzed by the ClinProTools bioinformatics software from Bruker Daltonics. The diagnostic model of serum peptide profiling produced by the ClinProTools software could correctly detect L. donovani infection in mice from the third day post-infection, with the accuracy of 94.1%, sensitivity of 92.4%, and specificity of 97.1%, respectively. The results of the present study suggested that the serum peptide profiling by MALDI-TOF MS is a novel potential tool for the clinical diagnosis of leishmaniasis.