Evaluation of Gamma Radiation-Attenuated Schistosoma mansoni Cercarial Antigens for Immunodiagnosis

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Health Radiation Research Department, National Center for Radiation Research and Technology (NCRRT), Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (AEA), Cairo, Egypt

2 Parasitology Research Department, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

3 Parasitology Research Department, Veterinary Research Division, National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt

4 Parasitology Research Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufiya University, Menoufiya, Egypt

Abstract

DEVELOPMENT of sensitive and specific diagnostic tools for early diagnosis and treatment has an important necessity. This study focuses on identifying and evaluating immunodiagnostic potential of irradiated Schistosoma mansoni cercarial antigens by immunoblot analysis using infected human sera. Forty two serum samples were divided into: 14 sera from S. mansoni infected patients (Group I), 18 sera of patients with other parasitic diseases (Group II) and 10 sera from healthy individuals (Group III). Characterization of normal and 0.4Gy gamma radiation-attenuated cercarial antigens (Cer. Ags) was conducted using Gel Electrophoresis (SDS- PAGE). Normal Cer. Ags was resolved into six individual bands of 205, ≈160, 97, 66, 43 and ≈38kDa while irradiated Cer. Ags. showed same bands except 66kDa, in addition to two more bands which were ≈50 and 24kDa. Immunoblot analysis of irradiated cercarial antigens using pooled sera of patients with schistosomiasis mansoni identified four bands two like normal one, 97kDa and ≈32kDa, in addition to ≈50kDa and 43kDa bands. Total IgG immunoblotting using irradiated cercarial antigens with individual sera of patients with schistosomiasis and other parasites revealed that higher diagnostic accuracy was achieved by both 97kDa and 24kDa with 78.6%. Both 97 and 43kDa bands gave a higher sensitivity of 64.3% while 24kDa bands achieved the highest specificity of 89.3%. It could be concluded that total immunoblotting using irradiated cercarial antigens at 97kDa and 24kDa proved to be valuable as diagnostic tests for human schistosomiasis.

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