Development and evaluation of a Western blot kit for diagnosis of human trichinellosis

Abstract

We evaluated industrially prepared Western blot strips designed to avoid the cross-reactions observed with indirect immunofluorescence and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays used for the serodiagnosis of trichinellosis. The antigen preparations were crude extracts of Trichinella spiralis. The Western blot profile characteristic of trichinellosis was characterized by comparing 60 sera from patients infected by Trichinella to 11 sera from healthy subjects, 51 sera from patients with other proven parasitic diseases (cysticercosis, schistosomiasis, strongyloidosis, fascioliasis, toxocariasis, liver amebiasis, anisakiasis, filariasis, toxoplasmosis, hydatidosis, or malaria), and 23 sera from patients with autoantibodies. Specific 43- to 44-kDa and 64-kDa bands were obtained with all of the sera from 51 patients with acute trichinellosis, in 4 out of 9 patients at the early stages of the disease, and in only 1 control patient, who had suspected anisakiasis and in whom trichinellosis could not be ruled out by muscle biopsy.

FIG. 1.

Western blot profiles obtained with sera from patients infected by various species of Trichinella: lanes 1 and 2, T. spiralis; lanes 3 and 4, T. nelsoni; lane 5, T. nativa; lanes 6 and 7, T. pseudospiralis; lanes 8 and 9, T. murrelli; and lanes 10 and 11, T. britovi.