Development and evaluation of indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for a screening test to detect antibodies against classical swine fever virus.

An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed for a screening test to detect antibodies against classical swine fever virus (CSFV). Viral glycoproteins, which were purified from swine kidney cells infected with CSFV ALD/A76 strain by the immunoaffinity purification using monoclonal antibody against E2 protein, were adsorbed on a microtiter plate as the antigen for the antibody detection. Each antibody titer of serum sample was expressed as a sample per positive value calculated with optical absorbance of each sample and that of a positive control.

Evaluation of a newly-developed immunochromatography strip test for diagnosing dermatophytosis.

Background: Traditionally, dermatophytosis, a common disease affecting millions of people world-wide, has been diagnosed by direct microscopy and fungal culture. The immunochromatography (ICG) strip test was recently developed.

Methods: We compared the performance of the ICG strip test for the detection of dermatophytes in samples from human skin and nails with direct microscopy.

Epsilon-polylysine microparticle adjuvant drives cytokine production to Th1 profile.

Epsilon-polylysine micro particles (SGEPL) and polyethyleneimine micro particles (SGPEI) were developed by the addition of a hydrophobic group and the immunological characterization of these micro particles and aluminum hydroxide (ALUM) was investigated. BALB/c mice were injected intraperitoneally with ovalbumin (OVA) as an antigen and SGEPL, SGPEI or ALUM as an adjuvant. The results showed that the mice injected with SGEPL produced a significant portion of anti-OVA antibody subclass IgG2a in the sera and suppressed interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-5, but enhanced IL-12 and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) from the spleen cells.