Protein composition and antigenicity of the tegument from Paragonimus westermani

To ascertain that tegument of Paragonimus westermani has specific antigenic proteins, the tegumental fraction was isolated from 10-month-old worms by 0.1% digitonin solution, and subjected to SDS-PAGE and immunoblot. Component proteins of tegumental syncytium comprised of 94, 74 (76-66), 62, 54, 44, 42, 38, 28, 26, 25, 24, 17, 15.5 and 13. 5 kDa proteins. Of them, the 94, 44 and 42 kDa proteins were more specific to tegument, especially the 94 kDa protein was the most prevailing one. In immunoblot, antigens of the 94, 90, 78, 76, 74, 68, 65, 62, 60, 59 and 54 kDa proteins were commonly detected by 7 sera of 10 human paragonimiasis, but none of them reacted with 5 sera of clonorchiasis. In conclusion, the 94 kDa protein was the major tegumental protein, as well as the specific antigen. The 76 and 66 kDa proteins were the minor components of tegument, which were also specific antigens of P. westermani.