E. Boireau et al., SEROLOGICAL ANALYSIS BY A60 ANTIGEN ELISA AND BCG IMMUNOBLOTTING IN DOMESTIC CARNIVORES EXPERIMENTALLY VACCINATED WITH MYCOBACTERIUM-BOVIS BCG, Zentralblatt fur Bakteriologie, 281(1), 1994, pp. 85-94
The serological response to Mycobacterium bovis BCG vaccination was st
udied in 3 cats, 3 dogs and 3 puppies. The animals received two doses
of 0,1 mg of BCG and were studied over a period of 8 months simultaneo
usly by ELISA with antigen A60 (Anda Biologicals, Strasbourg, France)
and immunoblotting with BCG. The two methods detected an increase of a
ntibodies at 3 or 5 weeks. In the cats, specific antibody titer remain
ed high and stable for more than one year, in the dogs they diminished
quickly within 23 weeks. Carnivores elicit a serological response aga
inst specific protein antigens in the bands corresponding to 18 and 25
kDa, 30 and 45kDa, and especially 35 and 42kDa bands, and to minor ban
ds at higher molecular weight. Non-specific bands at 50-55 kDa and 70
kDa, assigned to heat shock proteins, were enhanced by BCG vaccination
. Cat immunsera recognized on A60 immunoblots the specific homologous
bands at 20-25 kDa and 32 kDa, but also two other dominant bands: one
was partially specific (65 kDa) and the other was absent from the M. b
ovis and M. paratuberculosis profiles. The suitablity of A60 ELISA for
detection of mycobacterial infection in carnivores may be highlighted
by immunoblot analysis.