The use of an in-house modified double antibody sandwich ELISA to detect Aspergillus antigens in sera of immunosuppressed patients
Samad, S.A.; Rahman, H.A.
Singapore Medical Journal 40(8): 513-518
1999
ISSN/ISBN: 0037-5675 PMID: 10572490 Document Number: 511665
The ELISA used polyclonal antibodies raised against a water-soluble (WS) mycelial component of a clinical isolate of A. fumigatus. Rabbit and guineapig anti-WS antibodies were used as the capture and detector antibodies, respectively. This was followed by the addition of anti-guineapig antibodies conjugated to horse radish peroxidase and orthophenylenediamine. Of 143 specimens obtained from 140 patients in Malaysia, only 5 (3.5%) specimens demonstrated the presence of antigen. The 5 antigen-positive sera were from 3 patients. One was a confirmed case of paranasal aspergillosis and the other 2 were probable cases of invasive aspergillosis. It is concluded that the clinical validity of the ELISA should be determined by prospective detection of Aspergillus antigens in multiple serum samples collected from proven cases of invasive aspergillosis.