IgE antibodies in human onchocerciasis. Application of a newly developed radioallergosorbent test (RAST).

A radioallergosorbent test (RAST) was developed to detect IgE antibodies against adult Onchocerca volvulus antigens coupled to CnBr-activated Sepharose. Twenty-four out of 25 (96%) onchocerciasis sera were reactive. The lower limit of sensitivity was estimated to be at approx. 3 ng/ml IgE antibodies. Tests of sera from patients with non-filarial helminth infections showed much less cross-reactivity with RAST than with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) detecting IgG and IgM antibodies against the same antigen preparation. At a specificity comparable to that of RAST, the sensitivity of ELISA was only 61%. A heterologous antigen, prepared from female Dipetalonema viteae worms, was comparatively evaluated with O. volvulus. In RAST and ELISA, onchocerciasis sera were less reactive than against the O. volvulus antigen. Since sera from patients with non-filarial helminth infections were more reactive in RAST and almost equally reactive in ELISA using the D. viteae antigen, sensitivity was 83% for RAST and only 22% for ELISA (compared at the specificity identical to that of the O. volvulus RAST).