Detection of Antigens of Larval Taenia solium in the Cerebrospinal Fluid of Patients with the Use of HPLC and ELISA

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Abstract
The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) obtained from patients suspected of having neurocysticercosis (79 samples), as well as from control patients (without neurological symptoms), was separated using a high performance liquid chromatography gel filtration column. During the chromatographic separation, the eluted fractions were collected separately according to distinctive peaks. The elution characteristics of CSF components were identified by aligning more than 100 chromatograms and 6 distinctive peaks, eluting in consistent positions. Samples of each peak were tested in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the presence of larval antigens. Forty-four of the suspected 79 cases were found to have larval antigens in their CSF and these antigens were detected in peak no. 2, the mean of which is approximately 110,000 molecular weight. Also, in some cases, larval antigens were found in peak no. 1; however, we were able to detect them in only 23 CSF samples out of 44 CSF samples in which larval antigens were present in peak no. 2. Nine of these 23 CSF samples (derived from 79 patients in which neurocysticercosis was suspected) were later confirmed by histopathology. Values of ELISA readings of 5 CSF samples from control patients (0.054 .+-. 0.064) were considered negative. Thus, in 44 of 79 CSF samples from patients suspected of having neurocysticercosis, the ELISA values were highly positive (0.551 .+-. 0.293). The remaining 35 CSF samples gave ELISA readings of 0.092 .+-. 0.062, which were not significantly different from values obtained with CSF of control patients. The results of this study demonstrate that dot and/or standard ELISA can aid in the diagnosis of neurocysticercosis by detecting the presence of antigens of Taenia solium larvae in the CSF of patients.