Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, 108(3) May 2013
Original Article
Serodiagnosis of human neurocysticercosis using antigenic components of Taenia solium metacestodes derived from the unbound fraction from jacalin affinity chromatography
1Departamento de Imunologia, Microbiologia e Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, MG, Brasil
2Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Campus Catalão, Catalão, GO, Brasil
3Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, BA, Brasil
The aim of the present study was to analyse Taenia solium metacestode antigens that were derived from the unbound fraction of jacalin affinity chromatography and subsequent tert-octylphenoxy poly(oxyethylene)ethanol Triton X-114 (TX-114) partitioning in the diagnosis of human neurocysticercosis (NCC). Immunoassays were designed to detect T. solium-specific IgG antibodies by ELISA and immunoblot. Serum samples were collected from 132 individuals who were categorised as follows: 40 had NCC, 62 presented Taenia spp or other parasitic diseases and 30 were healthy individuals. The jacalin-unbound (Junbound) fraction presented higher sensitivity and specificity rates than the jacalin-bound fraction and only this fraction was subjected to subsequent TX-114 partitioning, resulting in detergent (DJunbound) and aqueous (AJunbound) fractions. The ELISA sensitivity and specificity were 85% and 84.8% for Junbound, 92.5% and 93.5% for DJunbound and 82.5% and 82.6% for AJunbound. By immunoblot, the DJunbound fraction showed 100% sensitivity and specificity and only serum samples from patients with NCC recognised the 50-70 kDa T. solium-specific components. We conclude that the DJunbound fraction can serve as a useful tool for the differential immunodiagnosis of NCC by immunoblot.
