Immunological analysis of cloned Schistosoma mansoni antigens Sm31 and Sm32 with sera of schistosomiasis patients.

Two immunogenic proteins, Sm31 and Sm32, originating from the gut of Schistosoma mansoni were evaluated for their potential as recombinant immunodiagnostic reagents. Sm31 and Sm32 cDNA fragments were cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli as polypeptides fused to RNA polymerase of bacteriophage MS2. The recombinant proteins were tested in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) with paired sera of 182 persons from Mali with S. mansoni and S. haematobium infections collected before and one year after treatment with praziquantel. Pretreatment sera of the study population gave a strong antibody response to Sm31 and Sm32 in immunoblots of total worm extract with the sera. The sensitivities of both western blotting (86%) and ELISA (75%) using Sm31 and Sm32 fusion proteins compared well with a single egg count (84%). Chemotherapy resulted in an overall decline of egg counts. Posttreatment sera gave significantly lower reactivities than the pretreatment sera. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of detecting circulating antibodies with recombinant antigens in schistosomiasis.