Coproantigen versus EGG antigen in immunodiagnosis of intestinal capillariasis using Western Blot Technique

Capillaria philippinensis is a zoonotic nematode that causes severe diarrheal syndromes in humans. C. philippinensis coproantigen and egg antigen were fractionated using SDS-PAGE. Several protein bands were detected in both antigens. Protein profile of coproantigen of C. philippinensis infected patient included wide range of bands ranging from 10- 180 kD. Protein profile of egg antigen revealed only few bands detected at 10, 34- 36.5, and 148 kD. Using Western blot, a variety of protein bands were recognized by the infected patient serum. When tested against coproantigen, it detected a wide range of antigenic proteins at different molecular weight [10, 14, 34-36.5, 48, 54, 62, 66, 86, 94, and 148 kD respectively]. None of these bands were detected in normal human feces. When tested against egg antigen, the infected patient serum detected only two faint antigenic bands at 62 and 66 kD. It is concluded that coproantigen was more convenient than egg antigen in diagnosis of capillariasis by WB