Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, 350 West 11th Street, Indianapolis, IN, United States.
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Indiana University School of Medicine, 635 Barnhill Drive, MS A-519, Indianapolis, IN, United States.
Int J Parasitol. 2018 Mar;48(3-4):225-232. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2017.08.016. Epub 2017 Nov 21.
Antibody detection assays have long been the first line test to confirm infection with the zoonotic parasite Toxoplasma gondii. However, challenges exist with serological diagnosis, especially distinguishing between acute, latent and reactivation disease states. The sensitivity and specificity of serological tests might be improved by testing for antibodies against parasite antigens other than those typically found on the parasite surface during the acute stage. To this end, we analysed the reactivity profile of human sera, identified as positive for anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgG in traditional assays, by indirect immunofluorescence reactivity to acute stage intracellular tachyzoites and in vitro-induced latent stage bradyzoites. The majority of anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgG positive sera recognised both intracellularly replicating tachyzoites and in vitro-induced bradyzoites with varying patterns of immune-reactivity. Furthermore, anti-bradyzoite antibodies were not detected in sera that were IgM-positive/IgG-negative. These results demonstrate that anti-Toxoplasma gondii-positive sera may contain antibodies to a variety of antigens in addition to those traditionally used in serological tests, and suggest the need for further investigations into the utility of anti-bradyzoite-specific antibodies to aid in diagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii infection.
抗体检测法一直是用于确认感染动物源性寄生虫刚地弓形虫的一线检测方法。然而,血清学诊断存在挑战,尤其是在区分急性、潜伏和再激活疾病状态方面。通过检测寄生虫抗原而不是通常在急性阶段寄生虫表面发现的那些抗原,可能会提高血清学检测的敏感性和特异性。为此,我们通过间接免疫荧光反应分析了人类血清的反应谱,这些血清在传统检测中被鉴定为抗刚地弓形虫 IgG 阳性,针对急性阶段的细胞内速殖子和体外诱导的潜伏阶段缓殖子。大多数抗刚地弓形虫 IgG 阳性血清识别体内复制的速殖子和体外诱导的缓殖子,具有不同的免疫反应模式。此外,IgM 阳性/IgG 阴性的血清中未检测到抗缓殖子抗体。这些结果表明,除了传统血清学检测中使用的那些抗原外,抗刚地弓形虫阳性血清可能含有针对多种抗原的抗体,并表明需要进一步研究抗缓殖子特异性抗体在辅助诊断刚地弓形虫感染方面的效用。