Strongyloides ratti antigenic components recognized by IgE antibodies in immunoblotting as an additional tool for improving the immunodiagnosis in human strongyloidiasis

• Main Authors: Rosângela Maria Rodrigues, Mônica Camargo Sopelete, Deise Aparecida de Oliveira Silva, Jair Pereira Cunha-Júnior, Ernesto Akio Taketomi, Julia Maria Costa-Cruz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde 2004-02-01
• Series: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.
• Subjects: strongyloidiasis; Strongyloides ratti; IgE; immunoblotting; ELISA
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762004000100016

IgE antibody response in human strongyloidiasis was evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunoblotting (IB) using Strongyloides ratti saline extract as heterologous antigen. A total of 50 serum samples of patients who were shedding S. stercoralis larvae in feces (group I, copropositive), 38 of patients with other intestinal parasites (group II), and 38 of subjects with negative results in three parasitologic assays (group III, copronegative) were analyzed. Levels of IgE anti-Strongyloides expressed in ELISA Index (EI) were significantly higher in patients of group I (1.32) than in group II (0.51) and group III (0.81), with positivity rates of 54%, 0%, and 10.5%, respectively. Fifteen S. ratti antigenic components were recognized in IB-IgE by sera of group I, with frequency ranging from 8% to 46%. In group II, only two antigenic bands (101, 81 kDa) were detected in a frequency of 10% and no reactivity was found in group III. Sera with EI values > 1.5 recognized five from 13 specific antigenic bands (70, 63, 61, 44, 7 kDa). It can be concluded that these five antigenic components recognized by IB-IgE using S. ratti antigen might be employed as an additional tool for improving the immunodiagnosis in human strongyloidiasis.