Title:Comparison of the Diagnostic Performance of Antigen B Purified from
Sheep Hydatid Cyst Fluid (HCF) with Commercial ELISA Kit
Volume: 24
Issue: 7
Author(s): Fatemeh Abdollahpour Darzi, Hossein Asgarian-Omran, Shahabeddin Sarvi, Reza Valadan, Maryam Hataminejad, Sabah Mayahi, Seyyed Ali Shariatzadeh, Toktam Abbasi, Tahereh Mikaeili Galeh, Mahdi Fakhar, Majid Fassihi Harandi and Shirzad Gholami*
Affiliation:
- Department of Parasitology, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran
- Toxoplasmosis
Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran
Keywords:
antigen, cystic Echinococcosis, Echinococcus granulosus, ELISA, hydatid cyst, serological method.
Abstract:
Introduction: Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a zoonotic parasitic disease caused by the
metacestode of Echinococcus granulosus. CE is a health problem in Middle Eastern countries,
such as Iran. The purpose of this study was to purify subunit 8 KDa antigen B from crude sheep
hydatid cyst fluid (HCF) and compare its sensitivity and specificity with a commercial human
ELISA kit (PT-Hydatid-96).
Methods: 28 sera samples were collected from hydatid cyst patients who had surgery for a hydatid
cyst and had their disease confirmed by pathology after the surgery. Furthermore, 35 samples of
healthy individuals with no history of hydatid cysts were collected, as were nine serum samples
from parasite-infected non-CE patients. HCF was obtained from sheep fertile cysts at a Sari
slaughterhouse and used as an antigen. In an indirect ELISA test, the B antigen was employed,
and the results were compared to those from a commercial ELISA kit.
Results: The results of this study were analyzed using the Kappa test. The commercial ELISA kit
showed 17 cases (23.6%) positive, 44 cases (61.1%) negative, and 11 cases (15.3%) borderline.
B antigen showed that 18 (25%), 43 (59.7 %), and 11 (15.3%) were positive, negative, and borderline,
respectively. One sample (1.4% of 72 total samples) of 35 serum samples from healthy
individuals was positive using B antigen-based ELISA. In addition, all nine serum samples from
parasite-infected non-CE patients were negative for both tests. The sensitivity and specificity of
the commercial ELISA kit have been evaluated at 60.7% and 100%, respectively. For B antigenbased
ELISA, these values are 64.3 and 97.7%, respectively.
Conclusion: Antigen B produced from hydatid cyst fluid is a promising option for serological
identification of hydatid cysts in both infected and healthy individuals. In an indirect ELISA test,
hydatid fluid antigen could be used as a precise source of detection.
