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Anti-laminin and specific antibodies in acute Chagas disease
R Gazzinelli1, L M Galvão, J C Dias
1Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou, FIOCRUZ, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
A striking increase of anti-laminin antibodies contrasting with low levels of anti-Trypanosoma cruzi antibodies was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in sera of 16 patients at the acute phase of Chagas disease. The mean absorbancies using an anti-human IgG conjugate were 6563 and 202 for laminin and T. cruzi antigens, respectively; with anti-IgM conjugate the titres were 3442 and 207, respectively. In addition, indirect immunofluorescence tests performed with trypomastigotes from blood or cell cultures have shown extremely high titres (up to 1:10 240), which declined when mouse laminin-absorbed sera were used instead, apparently confirming the presence of laminin in the surface membrane of the parasites. These results support the view that the high anti-laminin titres found in patients with Chagas disease are induced by the newly described galactosyl-alpha 1-3-galactose epitope present in T. cruzi trypomastigotes and shared by mouse laminin.
A striking increase of anti-laminin antibodies contrasting with low levels of anti-Trypanosoma cruzi antibodies was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in sera of 16 patients at the acute phase of Chagas disease. The mean absorbancies using an anti-human IgG conjugate were 6563 and 202 for laminin and T. cruzi antigens, respectively; with anti-IgM conjugate the titres were 3442 and 207, respectively. In addition, indirect immunofluorescence tests performed with trypomastigotes from blood or cell cultures have shown extremely high titres (up to 1:10 240), which declined when mouse laminin-absorbed sera were used instead, apparently confirming the presence of laminin in the surface membrane of the parasites. These results support the view that the high anti-laminin titres found in patients with Chagas disease are induced by the newly described galactosyl-alpha 1-3-galactose epitope present in T. cruzi trypomastigotes and shared by mouse laminin.