RESUMO
This paper describes the identification of proteins seprated from excretory-secretory products of 25-days-Schistosoma mansoni schistosomufes [ESP-25]. Fractionation of ESP-25 on 10% SDS-PAGE showed three protein bands with molecular sizes 101.7, 90.0, and 76.5 kd. The role of ESP-25 in the early diagnosis of Schistosoma mansoni infection was tested by Western blotting and by ELISA using sera of S. mansoni infected mice at the different stages of infection. The antibodies was detected in sera of mice 2 and 6 weeks post infection by ELISA and Western blotting, respectively. Anti-ESP-25 antibodies, raised in rabbit, were able to detect circulating antigen in infected mice sera using ELISA. The circulating antigens was detected as early as the third day of infection