Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays using the recombinant dense granule antigens GRA6 and GRA1 of Toxoplasma gondii for detection of immunoglobulin G antibodies

Clin Diagn Lab Immunol. 2000 Jul;7(4):607-11. doi: 10.1128/CDLI.7.4.607-611.2000.

Abstract

The potential of the dense granule antigens GRA1 and GRA6 of Toxoplasma gondii to be used as diagnosis reagents in a recombinant form was evaluated. Both proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli as glutathione-S-transferase (GST) fusions. The GST-GRA1 fusion comprises the entire GRA1 sequence devoid of its N-terminal signal peptide. Separate expression of the two N- and C-terminal hydrophilic regions of GRA6 showed that only the N-terminal hydrophilic part of the protein was recognized by a pool of positive human sera in an immunoblot. One hundred T. gondii-positive and 98 negative human sera were tested in two separate immunoglobulin G (IgG)-direct enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) using either GST-GRA1 or GST-GRA6-Nt recombinant protein. Whereas the sensitivity of the GST-GRA1 IgG ELISA was low (68%), the GST-GRA6-Nt IgG ELISA reached a sensitivity of 96%. The reactivity to GRA6-Nt was shown to be high even with human sera of low IgG titers. In addition, comparison of the optical density values for each serum revealed that GRA1 may complement GRA6-Nt to reach an overall sensitivity of 98%. Therefore, the GST-GRA6-Nt ELISA could be used together with another antigen like GRA1 for the development of a recombinant antigen-based test for serodiagnosis of toxoplasmosis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Protozoan / analysis*
  • Antibodies, Protozoan / immunology*
  • Antigens, Protozoan / genetics
  • Antigens, Protozoan / immunology*
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / methods
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin G / analysis
  • Immunoglobulin G / immunology
  • Protozoan Proteins / genetics
  • Protozoan Proteins / immunology*
  • Recombinant Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Proteins / immunology
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Toxoplasma / genetics
  • Toxoplasma / immunology*
  • Toxoplasmosis / diagnosis*
  • Toxoplasmosis / immunology*

Substances

  • Antibodies, Protozoan
  • Antigens, Protozoan
  • GRA1 antigen
  • GRA6 protein, Toxoplasma gondii
  • Immunoglobulin G
  • Protozoan Proteins
  • Recombinant Proteins