Serodiagnosis of Invasive Amebiasis Using a Recombinant Entamoeba histolytica Protein
- Samuel L. Stanley, Jr, MD;
- Terry F. H. G. Jackson, PhD;
- Sharon L. Reed, MD;
- Jesus Calderon, MD, PhD;
- Cynthia Kunz-Jenkins;
- Vinodh Gathiram, MD, FCS(S.A.);
- Ellen Li, MD, PhD
- From the Departments of Medicine (Drs Stanley and Li, and Ms Kunz-Jenkins), Molecular Microbiology (Dr Stanley), and Molecular Biochemistry and Biophysics (Dr Li), Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Mo; the Research Institute for Diseases in a Tropical Environment of the South African Medical Research Council, Durban, Republic of South Africa (Drs Jackson and Gathiram); the Departments of Medicine and Pathology, University of California, San Diego (Dr Reed); and the Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, Mexico City, Mexico (Dr Calderon). Drs Li and Reed are Lucille P. Markey Scholars.
Abstract
One hundred eight serum samples from 106 patients were examined by Western blot analysis for the presence of antibodies to a recombinant fusion protein containing the sequence of the newly described serine-rich Entamoeba histolytica protein (SREHP). Among patients with invasive amebiasis from Durban, Republic of South Africa; San Diego, Calif; Mexico City, Mexico; and St Louis, Mo, 53 (82%) of 65 had antibodies to SREHP. In contrast, only one patient (2%) of 43 without acute invasive amebiasis had antibodies to SREHP. The predictive value of a positive test for anti-SREHP antibodies in the detection of acute invasive amebiasis was most marked when analyzed in the patients from Durban, where 11 (92%) of 12 patients who were seropositive for SREHP had acute invasive amebiasis vs 17 (65%) of 26 patients who had a positive serologic diagnosis as determined by agar gel diffusion. The use of a serologic test based on the recombinant SREHP fusion protein may be a useful adjunct to the diagnosis of acute invasive amebiasis in endemic regions.
(JAMA. 1991;266:1984-1986)
Footnotes
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Reprint requests to Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, Box 8051, 660 S Euclid Ave, St Louis, MO 63110 (Dr Stanley).
