title: Use of dense granule antigen GRA6 in an immunoglobulin G avidity test to exclude acute Toxoplasma gondii infection during pregnancy.
abstract: The usefulness of a specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) avidity enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on recombinant GRA6 antigen for distinguishing between acute and chronic Toxoplasma infection was investigated. Two sets of serum samples obtained from pregnant women with acute, chronic, or no Toxoplasma infection collected in France and Iran were used. Among the French subjects, 19 of 20 (95%) women who experienced seroconversion during the past 4 months before sampling displayed low-avidity IgG antibodies against GRA6, while all 17 (100%) women with chronic infection had high-avidity antibodies. When the Euroimmun IgG avidity ELISA was used, 15 of 19 (78.9%) recently infected women had low-avidity antibodies, and 20 of 22 (90.9%) women with chronic infection displayed high-avidity antibodies. The results suggested better performance of the GRA6 avidity ELISA than the Euroimmun avidity ELISA for exclusion of a recent infection occurring less than 4 months previously. Similarly, all 35 Iranian women with acute Toxoplasma infection had low-avidity antibodies against GRA6, whereas all 34 women with chronic infection displayed IgG antibodies of high avidity, indicating the value of GRA6 avidity testing for ruling out a recent infection. Avidity tests based on lysed whole-cell Toxoplasma gondii antigen are currently used to exclude recently acquired infections; however, the use of recombinant antigen(s) might improve the diagnostic performance of avidity tests and facilitate the development of more standardized assays.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Parasitology Laboratory, Parasitology Department, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Elyasi
authors.forename: Jalal
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Babaie
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fricker-Hidalgo
authors.forename: Marie-Pierre
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Brenier-Pinchart
authors.forename: Mehrak
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zare
authors.forename: Ghazaleh
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sadeghiani
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Assmar
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pelloux
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Golkar
mesh_terms: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000276:immunology*; D000915:Antibody Affinity; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology*; D007492:Iran; D010274:Parasitology / Q000379:methods*; D011247:Pregnancy; D015597:Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D014123:Toxoplasmosis / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; C095047:GRA6 protein, Toxoplasma gondii; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D015800:Protozoan Proteins