EVALUATION OF ANTIGENIC ANSWER IN THE RESEARCH OF ANTIBODY ANTI-CISTYCERCUS OF TAENIA SOLIUM

Abstract

The serum diagnosis of cysticercoids has been pointed out as an efficient alternative source in the study of the disease. With the proposal of being accessible, primarily as regards cost, the ELIZA tests are promising in serological field research. In this context, the present study established the validation of an ELISA test with a high positive predictive value (PPV) for researching the anti-cysticerci of Taenia solium antibodies in a serological survey in the general population. The antigens tested were the vesicular liquid of T. crassiceps (LV-Tcra) and the total of T. solium (T-Tso), which constituted the ELISA-Tcra and ELISA-Tso tests respectively. Tests were performed in 610 samples of serum from supposedly healthy individuals, and 20 samples from individuals with nerocysticercosis confirmed by clinical and laboratorial criteria. The ELISA-Tcra specificity was 96.2% and the VPP ranged from 2 to 58% for prevalences from 0.1 to 5.0%. As regards sensitivity and VPP, there were similarities in the results. The ELISA-Tso showed less significant results: the specificity was calculated at 94.8% and the VPP ranging between 1.8 and 50% for prevalences from 0.1 to 5.0%. This reduction in specificity is due to the increase in the number of false-positive results in the test, because of the expression of proteins with a high molecular weight. Through these parameters the promising development of the ELISA-Tcra test is clear as being mandatory in the studies of serological surveys in the general population.