P. Chongtrakool et al., IMMUNOREACTIVITY OF A 38-KILODALTON PENICILLIUM-MARNEFFEI ANTIGEN WITH HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS-POSITIVE SERA, Journal of clinical microbiology, 35(9), 1997, pp. 2220-2223
Penicillium marneffei produced and secreted a 38-kDa antigen that appe
ared to be specific for this dimorphic fungus, This component could no
t be detected in antigenic extracts of Histoplasma capsulatum, Cryptoc
occus neoformans, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillu
s flavus, Aspergillus terreus, Candida albicans, and two other species
of Penicillium by immunoblot analysis against the sera from patients
with culture-confirmed penicilliosis marneffei. Antibody reactive with
this antigen was found in a large proportion of human immunodeficienc
y virus (NN)-positive patients, indicating a presumptive diagnosis of
P. marneffei infection, A small number of asymptomatic HIV-seropositiv
e patients and HIV-seropositive patients with other fungal infections
were also found to be positive bg this analysis, suggesting that subcl
inical or mixed fungal infections involving P. marneffei are not uncom
mon.