title: Combinations of three immunological assays for detecting anti-Toxoplasma IgG in the sera of patients infected with Toxoplasma gondii.
abstract: Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Dot-ELISA and Dot-immunogold silver staining (Dot-IGSS) were simultaneously used to detect the specific IgG against Toxoplasma gondii in 65 patients infected with the protozoa. The positive rates were 86.51%, 92.51% and 98.64%, respectively. When ELISA and Dot-ELISA results were put together, the positive rate increased to 95.38%. When Dot-IGSS results were combined with those of ELISA or Dot-ELISA, the positive rate was raised to 100%. The difference in positive rate between ELISA and Dot-IGSS was significant (x2 = 6.93, p < 0.01), but no statistically significant differences were found between ELISA and Dot-ELISA or between Dot-ELISA and Dot-IGSS. Paired comparison of the reacting intensities of the sera in the 3 assays showed the correlations were highly significant (p < 0.001), with r = 0.608 between Dot-IGSS and Dot-ELISA, r = 0.8194 between Dot-IGSS and ELISA and r = 0.517 between Dot-ELISA and ELISA. Hence combination of different serological assays may increase their sensitivity and specificity for detecting the anti-Toxoplasma antibodies.
authors.affiliation: Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, PR China.
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: W P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: J Q
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Q Y
authors.initials: QY
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Z X
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay / Q000379:methods*; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000276:immunology*; D014123:Toxoplasmosis / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D007074:Immunoglobulin G