Identification of Somatic Antigens of Adult Fasciola gigantica Isolated from Bali Cattle

Abstract

In most tropical countries, such as Indonesia, fasciolosis is generally caused by Fasciola gigantica known as tropical liver fluke. However, most fasciolosis serodiagnostic tests have been developed solely for diagnosing fasciolosis caused by Fasciola hepatica (non-tropical liver fluke), and very few have been specifically designed for F. gigantica. The aim of this study was to determine the profile of antigenic proteins from the somatic extract of F. gigantica isolated from Bali cattle (Bos javanicus). The liver flukes were collected from a slaughtering house in Mataram, Indonesia. The somatic extracts were prepared by homogenizing in buffers containing 0.05 M NaCl, 0.02 M PMSF, and 0.05% Triton X-100. The characterization of the somatic extract proteins was performed using one-dimension gel electrophoresis and followed by Western blotting to determine the profile of its antigenic proteins. There were 14 bands of the somatic extracts with an estimated molecular weight ranging from 8 to105 8 kDa shown on the gel electrophoresis. The results of the Western blot show that there were five prominent protein bands. Three out of five prominent antigenic proteins with molecular weights of 8, 27, and 33 kDa are promising to enrich the existence of antigens that have immunodiagnostic value for fasciolosis. Therefore, further studies are required to examine more deeply the potency of those three antigenic somatic proteins of F. gigantica.