Abstract

ESCALANTE, Hermes et al. Western blot technique standardization for specific diagnosis of Chagas disease using excretory-secretory antigens of Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes. Rev. perú. med. exp. salud publica [online]. 2014, vol.31, n.4, pp.644-651. ISSN 1726-4634.

Objectives. Evaluate the effectiveness of Western Blot for the specific diagnosis of Chagas disease using excretory-secretory antigens of Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes. Materials and methods. Antigens were obtained after twenty hours of incubation in Eagle’s Minimum Essential Medium, which were prepared at a protein concentration of 0.2 ug/uL to be faced with 10 mL pool of serum from patients with Chagas disease and a conjugated anti-IgG labeled with peroxidase. The presence of the following antigens was observed: 10, 12, 14, 15, 19, 20, 23, 26, 30, 33, 36, 40, 42, 46, 58, 63, 69, 91, 100, and 112 kDa; of which antigens of 10, 12, 14, 15, 19, 20, 23, and 26 kDa were considered to be specific using pools of serum from patients with other parasitosis and serum from people with no parasites. The sensitivity of the technique was assessed using individual serum from 65 patients with Chagas disease; and the specificity with serum from 40 patients with other parasitosis, and serums from five people who did not have parasites. Results. The technique has a sensitivity of 95.4% in the detection of one to eight specific bands, a specificity of 100%, a positive predictive value of 100%, and a negative predictive value of 93.7%. Conclusions. Western Blot technique with excretory-secretory antigens of T. cruzi epimastigotes is effective in the diagnosis of Chagas disease in Peru; therefore, it can be used as a confirmatory test.

Keywords : Trypanosoma cruzi; Chagas disease; Western Blot; Parasitic sensitivity tests; Sensitivity and specificity.

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