title: Isolation of Balamuthia mandrillaris-specific antibody fragments from a bacteriophage antibody display library.
abstract: Balamuthia mandrillaris is a protist pathogen that can cause encephalitis with a mortality rate of more than 95%. Early diagnosis followed by aggressive treatment is a pre-requisite for successful prognosis. Current methods for identifying this organism rely on culture and microscopy, antibody-based methods using animals, or involve the use of molecular tools that are expensive. Here, we describe the isolation of antibody fragments that can be used for the unequivocal identification of B. mandrillaris. B. mandrillaris-specific antibody fragments were isolated from a bacteriophage antibody display library. Individual clones were studied by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and immunofluorescence. Four antibody clones showed specific binding to B. mandrillaris. The usefulness of phage antibody display technology as a diagnostic tool for isolating antibody fragments against B. mandrillaris antigens and studying their biological role(s) is discussed further.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Sunway University, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Ruqaiyyah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Siddiqui
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Huma
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kulsoom
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Salima
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lalani
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Sunway University, Malaysia. Electronic address: naveed5438@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Naveed Ahmed
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Khan
mesh_terms: D000562:Amebiasis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000276:immunology; D059611:Balamuthia mandrillaris / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004660:Encephalitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology; D019151:Peptide Library
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D019151:Peptide Library
keywords: Balamuthia; Diagnosis; ELISA; Immunocytochemistry; Phage display library