ANTIBODIES AGAINST ECHINOCOCCUS-MULTILOCULARIS ALKALINE-PHOSPHATASE AS MARKERS FOR THE SPECIFIC DIAGNOSIS AND THE SEROLOGICAL MONITORING OFALVEOLAR ECHINOCOCCOSIS

The immunological properties of the purified alkaline phosphatase (pAP ) of Echinococcus multilocularis metacestodes have been investigated u sing alveolar echinococcosis (AE) patient sera in ELISA tests. A compa rative study was done with EmC-Ag (crude antigen) and pAP-Ag (purified antigen). When the parasite purified enzyme pAP was used as antigen, the specificity of the ELISA was markedly increased since it reached 1 00% without any decrease of its sensitivity (100%). The serologic foll ow-up of AE patients was conducted during several months with these tw o antigens in three categories of patients: cured, stabilized and aggr avated. There was a good correlation between clinical and serologic da ta when the pAP was used as antigen in ELISA tests, The anti-pAP antib odies titres did change more rapidly than anti-EmC antibodies titres w hen a recurrence occurred. Modifications of the anti-pAP antibodies le vels were also observed during the patient's therapy: mebendazole, alb endazole and Isoprinosine(R). These results suggest that pAP-Ag should be used for the diagnosis and the follow-up of AE patients.