Monoclonal Antibody Based Elisa:An Effective Diagnostic Tool for the Diagnosis of Falciparum Malaria

• Main Author: Hari Har Joshi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Nepal Medical Association 2005-07-01
• Series: Journal of Nepal Medical Association
• Online Access: http://jnma.com.np/jnma/index.php/jnma/article/view/384

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system based on the monoclonal antibodies (F2W22C1) originated fromThai strains of P.falciparumin mice models and polyclonal antibodies raised against Nepali strains of P.falciparumin rabbitmodels was developed for the detection of local Nepali strain of P.falciparum antigens in red cell lysates. The monoclonal-polyclonal antibody based indirect ELISA developed for the detection of P.falciparumantigens was specific since it was positive only with P.falciparuminfected erythrocytes and negative when blood fromforty healthy individuals collected fromthe malaria non-endemic areas and forty P.vivax infected erythrocytes were tested. When the test was applied to microscopically confirmed 154 falciparuminfected blood samples collected fromDhanusha district, Nepal; the assay detected only 138 out of 154 P.falciparumsamples indicating the sensitivity of the test to be 89.6%.When the assay was used to detect forty samples from the patients of unknown origin of fever other than the malaria collected fromthe malaria endemic areas, all forty samples were negative with the assay system. A significant correlation was observed (r = 0.872; p = 0.013) in between the parasitemia and the O.D. values obtained fromtheMAb-PAb based indirect ELISA. The test developed using monoclonal antibodies raised against Thai P. falciparum isolates and the polyclonal antibodies raised against native Nepali strains of P.falciparum offered high degrees of sensitivity and specificity. However, the test requires further evaluation with higher number of samples; requires further improvement in sensitivity; before commercial use of the test in patient care. Key Words: ELISA, monoclonal antibodies, polyclonal anti-bodies, P. falciparum.