Antibody responses to fluke cysteine proteinases in Paragonimus- and Fasciola-infected rats.

IgG and IgM antibody responses to fluke cysteine proteinases in Paragonimus ohirai- and Fasciola sp.-infected rats were followed by means of cystatin capture ELISA using fluke excretory-secretory products for 10 weeks after infection. The specific IgG antibodies were detectable at week 2 postinfection in all P. ohirai-infected and some Fasciola-infected rats. Levels of specific IgG antibodies increased rapidly between week 2 and 6, and slightly thereafter, in both infected groups. From week 3, specific IgG antibody levels were higher in Fasciola-infected than P. ohirai-infected rats. Sera from infected rats did not react with heterologous cysteine proteinases throughout the infection periods. In both infected groups, the kinetic patterns of specific IgM antibody responses were similar to those of specific IgG antibody responses although the ELISA levels of the IgM antibody responses were much lower. In abnormal infections with P. ohirai metacercariae x-irradiated at 2 krad, the specific IgG antibodies were detectable at week 2 postinfection with similar ELISA values to normal P. ohirai infection, but thereafter increased little. In infections with P. westermani, for which the rat is not a suitable host, even stunted worms induced a comparable specific IgG antibody response, although the response was lower than in normal infections with P. ohirai. These results indicate that cystatin capture ELISA can distinguish clearly between Paragonimus and Fasciola infections which show immunodiagnostic cross-reactivity and is useful even in the early stages of the infection and in the infection of unsuitable hosts.