title: 2-Mercapto-ethanol enhancement of agglutination reaction--a possible in vitro serological correlate for assessment of functional immunity in simian malaria.
abstract: Conventional indirect haemagglutination test was performed in rhesus monkey sera (collected from Plasmodium knowlesi infected animals) with and without prior treatment of sera with 2-mercapto-ethanol (2-ME). Surprisingly, many sera samples showed significant enhancement of final titre with 2-ME. The 2-ME enhancement effect was more pronounced in the sera of hyperimmune monkeys on further injection of antigen or parasites. It was also noticeable in the sera during primary drug-suppressed P. knowlesi infection and appeared to have a bearing on the immune status of the animals to rechallenge. The use of a soluble antigen prepared from P. knowlesi infected erythrocytes was found to be essential in IHA test to demonstrate the 2-ME enhancement effect. Antigen prepared from freed parasites (commonly used) failed to show a similar effect in IHA. The possible role of certain T-lymphocyte products - antigen binding, non-agglutinating, 2-ME sensitive molecules - in malarial immunology has been proposed.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000941:Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006384:Hemagglutination / Q000187:drug effects*; D006386:Hemagglutination Tests / Q000379:methods; D007109:Immunity; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008288:Malaria / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008623:Mercaptoethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D008623:Mercaptoethanol