Excretory-secretory (ES) and somatic antigens of Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica were prepared from freshly collected flukes. Laboratory bred rabbits were immunized with antigens for preparation of antisera. ES antigens of both species showed strong positive reaction with antisera raised against ES and somatic antigens of parasite. Somatic antigens of both species also showed strong positive reaction with antisera raised against somatic and ES antigens of parasite. In homologous combination of antigens and antisera higher enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) values was observed in comparison with heterologous combination, so it was concluded that ES and somatic antigens of Fasciola spp have strong cross reaction with each other but the antigenic materials of ES and somatic products of parasite are not completely the same.

The liver fluke Fasciola hepatica causes fascioliasis, a liver disease in most part of the world and particularly in north of Iran. Diagnosis of the diseases is anchored in coprological manner but serological methods are preferable due to some obscurities. In this study, sera obtained from human patients infected with Fasciola hepatica were tested by the enzymelinked immunotrotransfer blot (EITB) technique with the parasite s somatic and excretory-secretory (ES) antigens in order to evaluate the diagnostic potential of the assay. The study included sera from 40 patients infected with F. hepatica, 20 infected with hydatidosis, 6 with toxocariasis, 10 with strongyloidiasis, 10 with amoebiasis, 5 with malaria and 30 normal controls. By this assay, most pf the serum samples from humans with fascioliasis recognized two antigenic polypeptides of 27 and 29 kDa using both antigens. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values for somatic antigen were 91.0%, 96.2%, 95.2% and 92.7% respectively, while these parameters as for ES antigen were 95.2%, 98.0%, 97.5% and 96.2%, correspondingly. Totally, two cases of reactions for the first antigen and one for the latter were verified. The study suggests that the 27 and 29 kDa bands for two antigens in EITB test could be considered for the immunodiagnosis of

Strongyloidiasis, caused by a nematode parasite so-called Strongyloides stercoralis is one of the major human intestinal nematode infections. Considering that stool examination for Strongyloides larvae is not a sensitive method and immunodiagnostic methods are more applicable for this purpose, so the present study was conducted to compare the somatic (S) and excretory - secretory (ES) antigens of Strongyloides stercoralis in IgG-ELISA to diagnose human strongyloidiasis. Serum samples obtained from 50 individuals infected with Strongyloides stercoralis. Sera from healthy control individuals, not infected with any parasitic diseases (n=/30) and from others with different parasitic infections including hydatidosis (n=20), toxocariosis (n=18), ascariasis (n=2), trichostrongylosis (n=10), and hymenolepiasis (n=2) were examined as well. The cut-off point for (S) and ES was 0.48 and 0.36, respectively. Thirty eight and 42 out of 50 individuals infected with Strongyloides stercoralis were also seropositive using (S) and ES antigens, in that order, whereas 15 cases of false positive reactions for (S) and 10 for ES antigen were detected when non-strongyloidiasis sera were examined, therefore the sensitivity of the test was 80.6% and 86.2% for (S) and ES antigens, respectively. The specificity of those antigens was calculated as 84.2% and 88.2%, correspondingly. It was concluded that overall ES antigen showed a more convincing diagnosis in comparison with (S) antigen, although every interpretation of the results should be in accompany with clinical manifestations and a history of the disease.

Background: To assay the Trichinella-specific IgM and IgG antibody responses during the early stage of infection, serum was collected from mice infected with the muscle larvae (ML) of T. spiralis (ISS534) at different dpi (days post infection) up to 60 days. Methods: The levels of IgM and IgG antibodies in serum were measured by ES antigens from different stage of T. spiralis using the ELISA method in Shanghai, China in 2017. Results: The anti-Trichinella IgM and IgG could be detected by ES antigens from the adult three days worm (Ad3) as early as 5 dpi and 8 dpi, respectively. ES antigens from the mixture of adult six days worm & new born larvae (Ad6+NBL) was similar to Ad3. When antibodies were detected by these two antigens, the levels of IgM peaked at 14 dpi and then declined from 15 dpi to 60 dpi; the IgG peaked at 20 dpi, and gradually declined, however, higher detection levels were maintained until 60 dpi. Conclusion: Ad3 ES antigens showed more antigenicity than Ad6+NBL ES on titer detection of IgM and IgG antibodies, and the production of Ad3 ES is easier. In terms of early diagnosis, these two antigens are better than the ML ES antigens of T. spiralis, which antibodies could not be detected before 20dpi. Ad3 ES antigens might be good candidate for the early diagnosis of trichinellosis or the mixture of Ad3 and Ad6+NBL ES might be used.

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are regarded as a very promising source of differentiated cells for tissue regeneration. ES cell-derived cardiomyocytes could functionally replace irreversibly lost cardiac tissue in various animal models of ischaemic heart disease. However, clinical application of this therapeutic approach will be hampered by immunological rejection of transplanted cells by histoincompatible recipients. To address the question of immunological properties of murine ES cell-derived cardiomyocytes we have utilized a transgenic murine ES cell line D3αPIG engineered to express GFP and antibiotic resistance specifically in ES cell-derived heart cells. This cell line enabled us to highly purify GFP-positive cardiac progenitor cells and to specifically address the question of their immunogenic properties. To this end, we have determined their immunophenotype by flow cytometry, assessed their response to the inflammatory cytokine interferon gamma, assayed their physical interaction with cytotoxic T lymphocytes and tested their susceptibility to lysis by activated NK cells and cytotoxic T cells. These studies have demonstrated that ES cell-derived cardiomyocytes constitutively express very low levels of MHC class I molecules on their cell surface, which were strongly upregulated by interferon gamma. Interestingly, the cytotoxicity experiments revealed that ES cell-derived cardiac cells were resistant to killing by poly I: C activated syngeneic and allogeneic NK cells as well as by allogeneic cytotoxic T cells. Even strong upregulation of MHC class I molecules on the surface of cardiac cells by interferon gamma did not render them sensitive to lysis by immune effector cells, indicating that transplanted ES cell-derived cardiomyocytes might be less susceptible to rejection as compared to whole organ transplants. Ongoing studies are aimed at elucidating the molecular basis of this resistance and assessing the engraftment capacity and immunogenicity of ES cell-derived cardiomyocytes in vivo upon allotransplantation.