Evaluation of purified tegumental antigen of Fasciola adult worm In diagnosis of human fasciollash

ABSTRACT

This study was designed to develop a sandwich ELISA for detection of Fasciola antigens in stool and sera of fascioliasis patients as a better diagnostic alternative to routine parasitological methods. Anti-Fasciola antibodies were produced by immunization of rabbit with Fasciola purified tegumental antigen [PTA] obtained from worms collected from livers of cattle infected with Fasciola. Raised antibodies were then employed in sandwich ELISA for detection of Fasciola antigen in collected sera and stool samples. In this study sera and stool samples from 40 Fasciola infected patients, 30 patients infected with other parasites [Schistosoma, Hydatid and Ancklystoma] and 20 uninfected individuals were tested by sandwich ELISA for detection of Fasciola antigen. The sensitivity of coproantigen assay reached 90% for detection of Fasciola antigens in stool and 87.5% for detection of Fasciola antigen in sera of fascioliasis patients. The specificity of the assay was 94% for stool samples and 92% for sera of negative controls and patients harboring other parasites collectively. The diagnostic efficacy of the assay was 92.2% and 90% for stool and serum samples, respectively. Moreover, a positive correlation was found between ova count in stool of Fasciola infected patients and antigen levels in both sera and stool samples [r= 0.456, p< 0.01; r=0.532, p< 0.01]. In conclusion, our data demonstrated that the employment of rabbit anti-Fasciola IgG antibodies in sandwich ELISA for the detection of Fasciola coproantigen in stool provided a sensitive and specific tool for immunodiagnosis of Fasciola infection