MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF NEW-WORLD LEISHMANIA SPECIES

Monoclonal antibodies specific for selected species complexes of leish mania have been employed for the characterization of several represent ative strains of leishmania isolated from different hosts and localiti es in the Americas. In the past 15 years, data have been accumulated c oncerning (i) the specificities of a number of these monoclonal antibo dies and (ii) the antigenic variation (level of the expressed antigeni c determinants) occurring among New World Leishmania species or strain variants as recognized by the monoclonal antibodies. This report is a n attempt to summarize in brief the data accumulated to date on these points and to indicate the directions for future applications of these specific monoclonal antibodies for identification of leishmanial isol ates.