title: New cause for false-positive results with the Pastorex Aspergillus antigen latex agglutination test.
abstract: The Pastorex Aspergillus antigen test for detection of Aspergillus galactomannan antigen in the sera of patients with invasive aspergillosis is used in many clinical laboratories. A serum sample contaminated with Penicillium chrysogenum gave a strongly positive reaction (1:128) which was heat stable, was not eliminated by pronase treatment, and was not detected by a normal rabbit globulin control. This observation was shown to be due to cross-reactions of the monoclonal antibody EB-A2 used by the kit with several airborne fungi likely to contaminate serum samples, including Penicillium chrysogenum, Cladosporium herbarum, Acremonium species, Alternaria alternata, Fusarium oxysporum, Wangiella dermatitidis, and Rhodotorula rubra.
authors.affiliation: Hygiene-Institut, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kappe
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schulze-Berge
mesh_terms: D000946:Antigens, Fungal / Q000097:blood*; D001230:Aspergillus / Q000276:immunology*; D003429:Cross Reactions; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D005690:Galactose / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D006801:Humans; D007841:Latex Fixation Tests; D008351:Mannans / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D000946:Antigens, Fungal; D008351:Mannans; C012990:galactomannan; D005690:Galactose