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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, November 2001, p. 1140-1144, Vol. 8, No. 6
Laboratory of Clinical Immunology, Faculty of
Pharmacy, University of the Vale do Itajaí, Itajaí
SC,1 and Laboratory of Clinical
Immunology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of
São Paulo,2 and Fleury
Laboratory,3 São Paulo SP, Brazil
Received 2 April 2001/Returned for modification 27 July
2001/Accepted 20 August 2001
Neurocysticercosis (NC), caused by the presence of Taenia
solium metacestodes in tissues, is a severe parasitic
infection of the central nervous system with universal distribution. To determine the efficiency of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
and immunoblot with antigens of T. crassiceps vesicular fluid (Tcra) compared to standard techniques (indirect
immunofluorescence test [IFT] and complement fixation test
[CFT]) using T. solium cysticerci (Tso) for the
serodiagnosis of NC, we studied serum samples from 24 patients with NC,
30 supposedly healthy individuals, 76 blood bank donors, 45 individuals
with other non-NC parasitoses, and 97 samples from individuals screened
for cysticercosis serology (SC). The sensitivity observed was 100% for
ELISA-Tso and ELISA-Tcra, 91.7% for the IFT, and 87.5% for the CFT.
The specificity was 90% for ELISA-Tso, 96.7% for ELISA-Tcra, 50%
for IFT, and 63.3% for CFT. The efficiency was highest for
ELISA-Tcra, followed by ELISA-Tso, IFT, and CFT. Of the 23 samples
from SC group, which were reactive to ELISA-Tso and/or
ELISA-Tcra, only 3 were positive to immunblot-Tcra (specific peptides
of 14- and 18-kDa) and to glycoprotein peptides
purified from Tcra antigen (gp-Tcra), showing the low predictive value
of ELISA for screening. None of the samples from the remaining groups
showed specific reactivity in immunoblot-Tcra. These results
demonstrate that ELISA-Tcra can be used as a screening method for the
serodiagnosis of NC and support the need for specific tests for
confirmation of the results. The immunoblot can be used as a
confirmatory test both with Tcra and gp-Tcra, with the latter having an
advantage in terms of visualization of the results.
1071-412X/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.8.6.1140-1144.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Serodiagnosis of Human Cysticercosis by Using
Antigens from Vesicular Fluid of Taenia crassiceps
Cysticerci
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Faculdade de
Ciências Farmacêuticas
Universidade de São Paulo,
Av. Lineu Prestes, 580, Bloco 17, Laboratório de Imunologia
Clínica, CEP 05508-900, São Paulo SP, Brazil. Phone:
55-11-38183638. Fax: 55-11-38132197. E-mail:
ajvaz{at}netpoint.com.br.
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