Serological diagnosis of human cysticercosis by use of recombinant antigens from Taenia solium cysticerci

A Taenia solium metacestode cDNA expression library in the lambda ZAPII vec tor was screened with pooled sera from patients with neurocysticercosis. Si xty primary clones were identified and shown to belong to two classes. The clones NC-3 and NC-9 did not reveal any significant homologies to sequences deposited in the databases and were further characterized. Both recombinan t antigens were expressed as glutathione S-transferase fusion proteins and applied for serological diagnosis of human cysticercosis. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was established and evaluated with 27 serum samples of La Reunion and Madagascar patients with cysticercosis. Diagnosis in these p atients was established with radiological and serological procedures. For a ntigen NC-3 a sensitivity of 96.3% and a specificity of 91.5% for the serod iagnosis were achieved. La contrast, the sensitivity of antigen NC-9 was on ly 33.3%.