title: Serological validation of an alveolar echinococcosis rat model with a single hepatic lesion.
abstract: Serology is important for the diagnosis and follow-up of human alveolar echinococcosis (AE). However, patient conditions are highly variable among those with AE, and antibody responses in serological follow-up have not been well-defined. We recently described a new AE rat model established by implantation of small AE tissue into a single arbitrary location in the liver; no metastasis and dissemination were observed. In the present study, we examined the serological characteristics in our rat model before and after surgical treatment. The results showed that antibody responses against crude antigens were increased at one month after transplantation and similar to those of other model animals. For the antigen Em18, antibody responses were slower in our rat model than in other animal models. After surgical resection, changes in antibody responses against Em18 were similar to those observed in human patients with AE. Because of the slow growth of lesions, establishment of a single hepatic lesion and patterns of antibody responses, our rat model may be useful for clarifying follow-up serodiagnoses in human AE and determining the mechanisms of multi-organ involvement by primary infection with oncospheres rather than metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging, School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, Tottori 680-8553, Japan.
authors.forename: Masamichi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Imagawa
authors.forename: Yasuhito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sako
authors.forename: Munehiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yanagida
authors.forename: Yoshiharu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuka
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Osaki
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ito
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000909:Antibodies, Helminth / Q000097:blood; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004444:Echinococcosis, Hepatic / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D008099:Liver / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012698:Serologic Tests
chemical_list: D000909:Antibodies, Helminth