الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract There is a constant need to improve the performance of current diagnostic assays of schistosomiasis as well as develop innovative testing strategies to meet new testing challenges. The use of nanoparticles as tags or labels allows for the detection of infectious agents in small volumes with a very sensitive, specific and at lower costs than current in-use technologies. This study aims at increasing the diagnostic efficiency of monoclonal antibody (MAb) - based antigen detection assays through nanoparticles conjugated with specific anti - Schistosoma mansoni monoclonal antibodies. In this study, several hybidoma cell lines secreting MAbs against adult worm tegumental Schistosoma antigen (AWTA) were produced at Immunology department of TBRI and preserved in liquid nitrogen. One MAb (6D/6F) raised against adult worm tegumental schistosoma antigen( AWTA) was chosen for this study due to its high reactivity to schistosoma antigen as it gave highest optical density (OD) values. Gold nanoparticles were functionalized before their conjugation with MAb. The study was conducted on serum samples of 116 subjects. 71 patients with S. mansoni eggs in their stool samples group (gp1), 25 with other parasites (gp2) and 20 negative healthy controls gp3 |