Evaluation of multiple antigenic peptides based on the Chikungunya E2 protein for improved serological diagnosis of infection.

In recent years, Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) reemerged and numerous outbreaks were reported all over the world. After screening CHIKV-positive sera, we had already reported many dominant epitopes within the envelope E2 protein of CHIKV. In the present study, we aimed at developing a highly sensitive immunodiagnostic assay for CHIKV based on a multiple antigenic peptide (MAP) approach using selective epitopes of the E2 protein. MAPs in four different E2 peptide combinations were screened with CHIKV-positive sera. The MAPs reacted with all CHIKV-positive sera and no reactivity was seen with healthy or dengue-positive sera. Our results indicate that MAP 1 seems to be an alternate antigen to full-length protein E2 for immunodiagnosis of CHIKV infections with high sensitivity and specificity.