CVI Accepts, published online ahead of print on 7 May 2008

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Clin. Vaccine Immunol. doi:10.1128/CVI.00068-08
Copyright (c) 2008, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Development of an immuno-chromatographic lateral flow device for the rapid serodiagnosis of invasive aspergillosis

Christopher R. Thornton^*

Hybridoma Laboratory, School of Biosciences, Geoffrey Pope Building, University of Exeter, Stocker Road, Exeter, Devon, EX4 4QD, UK

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: C.R.Thornton{at}ex.ac.uk.

Aspergillus fumigatus is a cosmopolitan saprotrophic fungus that is second only to Candida species as a cause of invasive fungal infections in immuno-compromised humans. Current immuno-diagnostic tests for invasive aspergillosis (IA) are based on the detection of circulating galactomannan (GM) in patient's sera using a rat monoclonal antibody (mAb), EB-A2, that binds to tetra (15)--D-galactofuranoside, the immunodominant epitope in GM. Potential cross-reactivity of mAb EB-A2 with non-Aspergillus fungi, with contaminating GM in -lactam antibiotics and foodstuffs and with bacterial lipoteichoic acids has prompted the discovery of non-GM antigens that can act as surrogate markers for the diagnosis of IA. This paper describes the development of a mouse mAb, JF5, that binds to a protein epitope present on an extracellular glycoprotein antigen secreted constitutively during active growth of A. fumigatus. The mAb was used to develop an immuno-chromatographic lateral flow device (LFD) for the rapid (15 min) detection of Aspergillus antigens in human serum. The test is highly specific reacting with antigens from Aspergillus species, but not with antigens from a large number of clinically important fungi including Candida species, Cryptococcus neoformans, Fusarium solani, Penicillium marneffei, Pseudallescheria boydii and Rhizopus oryzae. The LFD was able to detect circulating antigen in serum samples from patients suspected or shown to have IA based on clinical symptoms and results from tests for GM and fungal (13)--D-glucan. The ease-of-use of the LFD provides a diagnostic platform for the routine testing of vulnerable patients who have an elevated risk of IA infection.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Thornton, C. R. (2009). Tracking the Emerging Human Pathogen Pseudallescheria boydii by Using Highly Specific Monoclonal Antibodies. CVI 16: 756-764 [Abstract] [Full Text]