Immunity to onchocerciasis: recognition of larval antigens by humans putatively immune to Onchocerca volvulus infection.

Immunoblot analyses were done using sera from 12 individuals without evidence of onchocerciasis and 16 with active infection from an area of Guatemala holoendemic for onchocerciasis. For adult antigens from Onchocerca volvulus, no differences in antigen recognition could be identified between the two groups. In contrast, when infective larval (L3) antigen preparations derived from the related animal parasite Onchocerca lienalis were used, IgG from the "immune" individuals preferentially recognized a 45- to 50-kDa triplet and a 22-kDa L3 antigen. When L3 antigens of Brugia malayi were used, sera from putatively immune individuals identified a high-molecular-weight triplet/quadruplet plus several additional antigens of lower molecular weights that were recognized by sera from few (or none) of the infected patients. These findings define some differences in antibody specificity in onchocerciasis patients and therefore might define potential target antigens of humoral host defense. The exact nature of such defenses is unknown.