Affiliation:
1. Kenton Laboratories, Rome, Italy
2. Department of Pediatrics, Federico II University, Naples, Italy
Abstract
ABSTRACT
We have evaluated the diagnostic utility of six antigenic regions of the
Toxoplasma gondii MIC2
,
MIC3
,
M2AP
,
GRA3
,
GRA7
, and
SAG1
gene products, assembled in recombinant chimeric antigens by genetic engineering, in order to replace the soluble, whole-cell tachyzoite extract in serological assays. Serum samples from 100 adults with acquired
T. gondii
infection and from 30 infants born to mothers with primary toxoplasmosis contracted during pregnancy, of whom 20 were congenitally infected, were included. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM antibodies against epitopes carried by chimeric antigens were measured by performing parallel enzyme immunoassays (recombinant enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays [Rec-ELISAs]), and the results obtained by standard commercial assays with the whole-cell
Toxoplasma
antigen and assays with the chimeric antigens were compared. Our results demonstrate that IgG and IgM Rec-ELISAs with individual chimeric antigens have performance characteristics comparable to those of the corresponding commercial assays. Furthermore, we show that IgM-capture assays based on chimeric antigens improve the ability to diagnose congenital toxoplasmosis postnatally compared with the ability to diagnose congenital toxoplasmosis by the use of standard assays. The use of recombinant chimeric antigens is effective in distinguishing
T. gondii
-infected individuals from
T. gondii
-uninfected individuals and shows that immunoassays based on recombinant products could provide the basis for standardized commercial tests for the serodiagnosis of toxoplasmosis.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
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