title: Detection of leishmania antigen in kala azar patients using monoclonal antibodies.
abstract: Twenty-one monoclonal antibodies were produced against promastigote antigens of Leishmania donovani. Five monoclonal antibodies (Hyb.17, 6, 5, 4 and 2) identifying molecules associated with various L. donovani antigenic determinants ranging from 42-116 kDa were selected as 'capture antibodies' and compared with specific anti-leishmania antisera for detection of circulating leishmania antigens in kala azar patients' sera in a competitive-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay system (ELISA). The anti-leishmania antisera could detect circulating antigen in 30% of kala azar cases while out of the five monoclonals, Hyb.17 could effectively detect circulating leishmania antigen in 85.4%. The efficacy of Hyb.6 was however low (31.7%). The antigens recognized by these monoclonal antibodies in the western blot assay could possibly represent the ones circulating in sera of patients suffering from kala azar. A cocktail of these monoclonal antibodies may be more useful than the conventional polyclonal antisera in detection of circulating antigen for clinical diagnosis of kala azar.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunopathology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Arora
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Datta
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sehgal
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007132:Immunoglobulin Isotypes / Q000032:analysis; D007893:Leishmania donovani / Q000276:immunology*; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D007132:Immunoglobulin Isotypes