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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, September 1999, p. 756-759, Vol. 6, No. 5
1071-412X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Detection of Antibodies to Brucella Cytoplasmic Proteins in the Cerebrospinal Fluid of Patients with Neurobrucellosis

Pablo C. Baldi,1,* George F. Araj,2 Graciela C. Racaro,1 Jorge C. Wallach,3 and Carlos A. Fossati1

Instituto de Estudios de la Inmunidad Humoral (IDEHU), 1113 Buenos Aires,1 and Servicio de Brucelosis, Hospital F. J. Muñiz, 1282 Buenos Aires,3 Argentina, and Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon2

Received 6 January 1999/Returned for modification 24 February 1999/Accepted 28 May 1999

The diagnosis of human neurobrucellosis usually relies on the detection of antibodies to Brucella lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by agglutination tests or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Here we describe the detection of immunoglobulin G (IgG) to cytoplasmic proteins (CP) of Brucella spp. by ELISA and Western blotting in seven CSF samples from five patients with neurobrucellosis. While IgG to CP (titers of 200 to 12,800) and IgG to LPS (800 to 6,400) were found in the CSF of these patients, these antibodies were not detected in CSF samples from two patients who had systemic brucellosis without neurological involvement. The latter, however, had serum IgG and IgM to both LPS and CP. No reactivity to these antigens was found in CSF samples from 14 and 20 patients suffering from nonbrucellar meningitis and noninfectious diseases, respectively. These findings suggest that, in addition to its usefulness in the serological diagnosis of human systemic brucellosis, the ELISA with CP antigen can be used for the specific diagnosis of human neurobrucellosis.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Instituto de Estudios de la Inmunidad Humoral (IDEHU), Junín 956 4to. piso, 1113 Buenos Aires, Argentina. Phone: 54-11-4964-8259. Fax: 54-11-4964-0024. E-mail: pablobal{at}ffyb.uba.ar.

Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, September 1999, p. 756-759, Vol. 6, No. 5
1071-412X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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