Enzyme-Linked Immunotransfer Blot Analysis of Somatic and Excretory- Secretory Antigens of Fasciola hepatica in Diagnosis of Human Fasciolosis

Abstract

The liver fluke Fasciola hepatica causes fascioliasis, a liver disease in most part of the world and particularly in north of Iran. Diagnosis of the diseases is anchored in coprological manner but serological methods are preferable due to some obscurities. In this study, sera obtained from human patients infected with Fasciola hepatica were tested by the enzymelinked immunotrotransfer blot (EITB) technique with the parasite s somatic and excretory-secretory (ES) antigens in order to evaluate the diagnostic potential of the assay. The study included sera from 40 patients infected with F. hepatica, 20 infected with hydatidosis, 6 with toxocariasis, 10 with strongyloidiasis, 10 with amoebiasis, 5 with malaria and 30 normal controls. By this assay, most pf the serum samples from humans with fascioliasis recognized two antigenic polypeptides of 27 and 29 kDa using both antigens. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values for somatic antigen were 91.0%, 96.2%, 95.2% and 92.7% respectively, while these parameters as for ES antigen were 95.2%, 98.0%, 97.5% and 96.2%, correspondingly. Totally, two cases of reactions for the first antigen and one for the latter were verified. The study suggests that the 27 and 29 kDa bands for two antigens in EITB test could be considered for the immunodiagnosis of human fascioliasis.