title: TLTF in cerebrospinal fluid for detection and staging of T. b. gambiense infection.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Trypanosome-derived lymphocyte triggering factor (TLTF) is a molecule released by African trypanosomes that interacts with the host immune system, resulting in increased levels of IFN-γ production.
  
  
  RESULTS
  TLTF and anti-TLTF antibodies were assessed in sera and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients infected with Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (T. b. gambiense) in an attempt to identify alternative markers for diagnosis and stage determination of human African trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness. Seventy-four serum and sixty-one CSF samples from patients with parasitologically confirmed infection and known disease stage along with 13 sera and CSF from uninfected controls were tested. In serum the levels of anti-TLTF antibodies were unrelated to the disease stage. In contrast, levels of anti-TLTF antibodies in CSF were higher in intermediate/late stages than in early stage disease patients. Specificity of the detected antibodies was assessed by inhibition of TLTF bioactivity as represented by its ability to induce IFN-γ production. Additionally, TLTF was detected in CSF from late stage patients by Western blotting with the anti-TLTF specific monoclonal antibody MO3.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest a new possibility for disease diagnosis with focus on involvement of the CNS through detection of TLTF and anti-TLTF antibodies in the CSF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Colorectal Research Center, King Khalid University Hospital, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ; Department of Pathology, Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Maha-Hamadien
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Abdulla
authors.forename: Moiz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bakhiet
authors.forename: Veerle
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lejon
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McKerrow
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Al-Obeed
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D014347:Trypanosoma brucei gambiense; D014353:Trypanosomiasis, African / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D015800:Protozoan Proteins