Godsel L M, Tibbetts R S, Olson C L, Chaudoir B M, Engman D M
Department of Microbiology-Immunology, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA.
J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Aug;33(8):2082-5. doi: 10.1128/jcm.33.8.2082-2085.1995.
The protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi is the causative agent of Chagas' disease, a major public health problem in Latin America and of growing concern in the United States as the number of infected immigrants increases. There is currently no testing of U.S. blood products for T. cruzi infection, and the best tests available, although highly sensitive, are not of high enough specificity to be useful for widespread screening of the blood supply in this country. Among the parasite antigens detected by sera of infected humans and mice, those in the range of 24 to 26 kDa are particularly reactive. With an aim of developing a sensitive, specific, recombinant antigen-based serologic test for T. cruzi infection, we used two antibody reagents specific for these 24- to 26-kDa antigens to isolate cDNA clones from a T. cruzi expression library. One clone was found to encode a previously characterized T. cruzi antigen, a 24-kDa flagellar calcium-binding protein (FCaBP). Recombinant FCaBP was found to be a sensitive, specific reagent for distinguishing T. cruzi-infected individuals from uninfected persons, and it therefore could potentially be used for screening purposes, especially if combined with other recombinant T. cruzi antigens that have similarly high degrees of diagnostic sensitivity and specificity.
原生动物克氏锥虫是恰加斯病的病原体，恰加斯病是拉丁美洲一个主要的公共卫生问题，并且随着受感染移民数量的增加，在美国也日益受到关注。目前美国没有对血液制品进行克氏锥虫感染检测，现有的最佳检测方法虽然高度灵敏，但特异性不够高，无法用于该国血液供应的广泛筛查。在受感染的人和小鼠血清检测到的寄生虫抗原中，24至26千道尔顿范围内的抗原反应性特别高。为了开发一种针对克氏锥虫感染的灵敏、特异的基于重组抗原的血清学检测方法，我们使用了两种对这些24至26千道尔顿抗原特异的抗体试剂，从克氏锥虫表达文库中分离cDNA克隆。发现一个克隆编码一种先前已鉴定的克氏锥虫抗原，即一种24千道尔顿的鞭毛钙结合蛋白（FCaBP）。重组FCaBP被发现是区分克氏锥虫感染个体和未感染个体的灵敏、特异试剂，因此它有可能用于筛查目的，特别是如果与其他具有同样高诊断灵敏度和特异性的重组克氏锥虫抗原结合使用时。
