Comparative analysis of the diagnostic performance of crude sheep hydatid cyst fluid, purified antigen B and its subunit (12 Kda), assessed by ELISA, in the diagnosis of human cystic echinococcosis.

The diagnosis of patients with cystic echinococcosis (CE) by means of serology has a limited support in clinical practice due to cross-reactivity with other helminthes leading to overestimation of the parasite's true prevalence. A wealth of reports on the diagnostic performance of antigen B (AgB) has been produced. This study was designed to comparatively assess the diagnostic efficacy of crude sheep hydatid cyst fluid (HCF), AgB and its subunit (12 KDa) to detect IgG or IgG4 antibodies in CE patients' sera using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Genetic variability of antigen B among Echinococcus granulosus Egyptian isolates.

Genetic polymorphisms of encoding antigen B2 gene (AgB2) in Echinococcus granulosus were studied using PCR-RFLP and DNA sequencing among 20 Egyptian isolates. Five isolates from different host origins (humans, camels, pigs, and sheep) were collected and used. All examined isolates of each host group gave very similar patterns of PCR-RFLP after restriction enzyme digestion with AluI, with the gene size of approximately 140 bp and 240 bp for sheep and human isolates, and approximately 150 bp and 250 bp for pig and camel isolates.

Avidity of immunoglobulin G antibody response to the different antigenic fractions of soluble Schistosoma mansoni adult worm antigen preparation (SWAP) using avidity immunoblotting assay.

The detection of IgG antibodies against the different SWAP antigenic fractions plus the determination of their avidity in avidity immunoblotting assay using 6 M urea wash, presents a novel alternative for the characterization of optimal antigenic markers for acute and chronic phases of Schistosoma mansoni infection and for vaccine development. Human serum samples from 25 acute schistosomiasis patients, 20 chronic cases and 15 normal healthy controls were analysed by IgG avidity enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and IgG avidity immunoblotting assay. Using avidity ELISA, a pronounced overlap of avidity index values was observed between acute and chronic infections with a range of uncertainty (0.

Molecular characterization of Egyptian human and anima Echinococcus granulosus isolates by RAPD-PCR technique.

Five primers of known, but arbitrary nucleotide sequence (OPH-03, OPH-05, OPH-12, OPH-15, OPH-18) were used to detect genetic variability in Egyptian human, camel and pig E. granulosus isolates. OPH-03, OPH-05 & OPH-15 proved useful as genetic markers of strain variation, while OPH-12 and OPH-18 allowed distinction at the genus level i.

The evaluation of HLA-DRB1 antigens as susceptibility markers for unilocular cystic echinococcosis in Egyptian patients.

This is the first study dealing with the correlation between HLA antigens and cystic echinococcosis (CE) in Egyptian patients. The potential immunogenetic predisposition for susceptibility and resistance to unilocular echinococcosis was investigated by HLA-DRB1 typing; first by HLA-DRB1 amplification using PCR then using the allele-specific probing technique based on the reverse hybridization principle. The study was carried out on 35 patients with confirmed CE, and 100 apparently healthy individuals.