Authors
Mandrira Ramakrishna Namrutha, Suresh Bindu, Roopa Anandamurthy Hemanth, Anand Shirisha, Pillenahalli Sadashivappa Pooja, Awadhesh Prajapati, Revanaiah Yogisharadhya, Nagappa Karabasanavar, Mohammed Mudassar Chanda, Sathish Bhadravati Shivachandra
Published in
Veterinary research communications. Volume 50. Issue 6. Oct 10, 2026. Epub Oct 10, 2026.
Abstract
Epsilon toxin (Etx) is a major exotoxin secreted by Clostridium perfringens that causes Enterotoxaemia (ET) in small ruminants leading to 'sudden death' and is known to induce protective antibodies. This study describes an indirect-ELISA based on recombinant quadruple-point Etx-mutant protein (~ 36 kDa), a well-defined and non-toxic antigen to detect epsilon specific antibodies in sheep and goat sera samples. The assay was evaluated for diagnostic sensitivity and specificity, along with cross-reactivity, as well as compared with a commercial ELISA kit. Furthermore, rEtx-iELISA was used to assess antibody titers in randomly collected sheep (n = 584) and goat (n = 555) serum samples from different regions of Odisha, an ET endemic state in India. The rEtx mutant protein (125 ng/well) based indirect ELISA platform demonstrated the area under the curve (AUC) of 0.997, diagnostic sensitivity (DSn) of 98.7%, and diagnostic specificity (DSp) of 96.2% using a pre-established test serum panel with 95% CI of 93.2-99.2% (p < 0.0001) against an optimal cut-off criterion of 10.42 PP. A comparison of the assay with a commercial kit yielded a kappa value of 0.912. A higher (> 95%) degree of sero-positivity with an average protective flock immunity of > 56% (≥0.15 IU/mL) was noted in sheep and goat populations of Odisha state. The study indicated the potential diagnostic utility of recombinant Etx-mutant antigen based indirect-ELISA for sero-monitoring of ET-specific antibodies in small ruminants.
PMID:
42858220
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 11 Oct 2026.
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