Antibodies against Echinococcus multilocularis alkaline phosphatase as markers for the specific diagnosis and the serological monitoring of Alveolar echinococcosis
Résumé
The immunological properties of the purified alkaline phos-phatase (pAP) of Echinococcus multilocularis metacestodes have been investigated using alveolar echinococcosis (AE) patient sera in ELISA tests. A comparative study was done with EmC-Ag (crude antigen) and pAP-Ag (purified anti-gen). When the parasite purified enzyme pAP was used as antigen, the specificity of the ELISA was markedly increased since it reached 100% without any decrease of its sensitivity (100%). The serologic follow-up of AE patients was conducted during several months with these two antigens in three categories of patients: cured, stabilized and aggravated. There was a good correlation between clinical and serologic data when the pAP was used as antigen in ELISA tests. The anti-pAP antibodies titres did change more rapidly than anti-EmC antibodies titres when a recurrence occurred. Modifications of the anti-pAP antibodies levels were also observed during the patient's therapy: mebenda-zole, albendazole and Isoprinosine ®. These results suggest that pAP-Ag should be used for the diagnosis and the follow-up of AE patients.
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