Evaluation of Taenia solium and Taenia crassiceps cysticercal antigens for the serodiagnosis of neurocysticercosis

Abstract

SummaryWe evaluated the usefulness of seven cysticercal antigen extracts, four from Taenia solium cysticerci (whole parasite-TsoW, membrane-TsoMe, vesicular fluid-TsoVF and scolex-TsoSc) and three from T. crassiceps cysticerci (whole parasite-TcraW, membrane-TcraMe and vesicular fluid-TcraVF), for serodiagnosis of neurocysticercosis with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Cysticercusspecific IgG were screened in serum samples from 23 patients with neurocysticercosis, 32 patients with other infections and 48 healthy persons. The best results were obtained with the TsoVF-ELISA (91.3% sensitivity; 96.2% specificity) and TcraVF-ELISA (91.3% sensitivity; 95% specificity). The ELISA done with whole parasite and membrane extracts from cysts of T. solium and T. crassiceps and the scolex extract from T. solium cysts showed a low performance in terms of sensitivity, ranging from 47.8% to 73.9%. None of the antigen preparations from T. solium and T. crassiceps cysticerci used in this study showed outstanding performance for the serodiagnosis of neurocysticercosis. However, considering the results obtained with the seven antigen preparations, vesicular fluid from T. solium and T. crassiceps cysticerci may be useful for detecting specific antibodies in sera from patients with neurocysticercosis.

Evaluation of two Taenia solium cysticercal antigenic preparations (vesicular fluid and a glycoprotein fraction with affinity for lentil lectin) for the immunodiagnosis of neurocysticercosis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)

“…Several antigenic preparations of T. solium and T. crassiceps cysticerci have been used to detect anti-cysticercal antibodies. Several studies have shown that ELISAs standardized with the VF of T. solium or T. crassiceps cysticerci may be useful for the immmunodiagnosis of neurocysticercosis 5,11,12,15,17 . However, there is no agreement about the best antigenic preparation to use in ELISAs for neurocysticercosis.…”

“…The WEC was obtained as previously described 15,17 , with few modifications. Briefly, parasites maintained at -80 o C were thawed and resuspended in sterile 0.15 M phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), pH 7.2 (1 volume of parasites to 3 volumes of PBS containing PMSF and leupeptin at the concentrations indicated above) and the material then homogenized in an ice-water bath using a Polytron homogenizer equipped with a PT-20 ST probe (three 30 s pulses at speed 3, with 30 s intervals between pulses).…”

“…However, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) are still extensively used to detect anti-cysticercal antibodies because of their simplicity and lower cost compared to EITB. Several studies have shown that ELISAs using vesicular fluid from T. solium and T. crassiceps have good diagnostic performance in terms of sensitivity and specificity 5,7,11,15,17 .…”

“…Crude extracts of whole T. solium or T. crassiceps cysticerci, crude extracts from particular components of the parasites (scolex, membrane or vesicular fluid), excretory-secretory products, purified antigens from crude extracts, recombinant proteins and synthetic peptides have been used in immunological tests to detect specific antibodies [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] . Currently, the most reliable immunological test available for the immunodiagnosis of neurocysticercosis is an enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot (EITB) assay based on glycoprotein antigens prepared by lentil lectin affinity chromatography from an extract of intact cysts 6,16 .…”

Evaluation of cysticercus-specific IgG (total and subclasses) and IgE antibody responses in cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients with neurocysticercosis showing intrathecal production of specific IgG antibodies

“…This detection was based on an ELISA standardized with VF from T. solium cysticerci. VF appears to be suitable for antibody detection by ELISA in neurocysticercosis when compared with other cysticercal antigens 12,14,18,[25][26][27] .…”