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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, September 2005, p. 1109-1113, Vol. 12, No. 9
1071-412X/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/CDLI.12.9.1109-1113.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Monoclonal Antibodies against Enterocytozoon bieneusi of Human Origin

Abhineet S. Sheoran,¹ Xiaochuan Feng,¹ Inderpal Singh,¹ Susan Chapman-Bonofiglio,¹ Sabrina Kitaka,² Joel Hanawalt,¹ John Nunnari,¹ Keith Mansfield,³ James K. Tumwine,² and Saul Tzipori^1*

Division of Infectious Diseases, Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, Massachusetts 01536,¹ Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Mulago Hospital, Makerere University Medical School, Kampala, Uganda,² Division of Comparative Pathology, New England Primate Research Center, Southborough, Massachusetts 01772³

Received 24 March 2005/ Returned for modification 31 May 2005/ Accepted 8 July 2005

Enterocytozoon bieneusi is clinically the most significant among the microsporidia infecting humans, causing chronic diarrhea, wasting, and cholangitis in individuals with human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS. The lack of immune reagents is largely due to the absence of methods for laboratory propagation of E. bieneusi. We recently described a procedure for the concentration and purification of spores from diarrheic stool of infected humans. Purified spores were used to immunize mice for production and screening of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against E. bieneusi. The eight immunoglobulin M MAbs generated and fully characterized did not cross-react with other human microsporidia or with other microorganisms normally present in stool. One of the MAbs, 2G4, reacted with E. bieneusi spores in stools from monkeys and humans, without background fluorescence, which makes it an ideal diagnostic reagent. It also recognizes intracellular stages of the parasite and will be suitable for determining tissue distribution of E. bieneusi in infected hosts. At least two immunodominant antigens of E. bieneusi of 33,000 and 35,000 Da exist, which were recognized by rabbit and mouse antisera. The availability of MAbs against E. bieneusi will simplify considerably the diagnosis of this infection in humans and will provide tools for epidemiologic investigations regarding the true prevalence of the infection in various human and mammalian populations and the environmental sources of infection.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Infectious Diseases, Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, MA 01536. Phone: (508) 839-7955. Fax: (508) 839-7911. E-mail: saul.tzipori{at}tufts.edu.

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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, September 2005, p. 1109-1113, Vol. 12, No. 9
1071-412X/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/CDLI.12.9.1109-1113.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Singh, I., Sheoran, A. S., Zhang, Q., Carville, A., Tzipori, S. (2005). Sensitivity and Specificity of a Monoclonal Antibody-Based Fluorescence Assay for Detecting Enterocytozoon bieneusi Spores in Feces of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Macaques. CVI 12: 1141-1144 [Abstract] [Full Text]