Antigen-antibody analyses in neurocysticercosis

In this report we show that there are 37 polypeptides of larval Taenia solium which react with antibodies from humans with neurocysticercosis. Six of these 37 polypeptides are recognized by antibodies present in the sera of both patients and control individuals. Thus, a minimum of 31 antigens are specific for cysticerci. We describe herein the antigens more frequently recognized by the patients, and the immunoglobulin classes favored in antibody production against each of the cysticercal antigens. It was found that there are 10 major polypeptides with molecular weights of 200,000, 64,000, 62,000-61,000, 53,000, 45,000, 41,000, 36,000-35,000, 30,000 and 16,000 daltons. About 65% of the larval components found to be antigenic are glycoproteins with oligosaccharide chains containing N-acetyl-D-glycosamine and alpha-D-galactose. These results suggest that the sugar moieties of glycoproteins may play a role in the antigenicity of larval T. solium. Based on these observations polypeptides with molecular weights of 64,000, 53,000, and 32,000-30,000 daltons are probably the best choice as sources of antigen to develop an optimal immunological test for the serological diagnosis of neurocysticercosis.