IMMUNOBLOTTING PATTERNS IN THE SERODIAGNOSIS OF ASPERGILLOMA - ANTIBODY-RESPONSE TO THE 90 KDA ASPERGILLUS-FUMIGATUS ANTIGEN

At present there are no accepted criteria to assess the usefulness of Western blot assays for the serodiagnosis of aspergilloma. An Aspergil lus fumigatus cytosolic fraction complex (CFC) composed of four protei ns (p90, p60, p40, and p37) has been identified, The usefulness of Wes tern blotting with CFC antigens for the serodiagnosis of aspergilloma was evaluated in 25 patients with well-established diagnoses and in 94 controls, The most consistently reactive antigen was p90 (92% of pati ents with aspergilloma), followed by p40 (76%) and the entire CFC take n together (76%), With these data, interpretive criteria for positive and negative immunoblots were established, with p90 indicated as a hel pful marker of aspergilloma.