ASSAYS FOR SEROLOGICAL DETECTION OF SYPHILIS

摘要

Methods for the diagnosis of infection with Treponema palladium using a peptide-spacer-lipid construct are disclosed, where the spacer covalently links the peptide to the lipid. The peptide is a peptide comprising the sequence AlaSerGlyAlaLysGluGluAlaGluLysLysAlaAlaGluGlnArgAlaLeuLeu. The lipid is selected from a diacyl- or dialkyl- glycerolipid including glycerophospholipids. The method comprises contacting a sample of plasma or serum of a subject with a suspension of cells modified to incorporate a peptide-lipid construct to form a mixture, incubation of the mixture to allow agglutination and determining the degree of agglutination of the cells in the mixture. A particular construct is shown in figure 1.