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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2000, p. 3967-3970, Vol. 38, No. 11
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Detection of Immunoglobulin M Antibodies to P35 Antigen of Toxoplasma gondii for Serodiagnosis of Recently Acquired Infection in Pregnant Women

Yasuhiro Suzuki,1,2,* Raymund Ramirez,1 Cindy Press,1 Shuli Li,1,2 Stephen Parmley,1,dagger Philippe Thulliez,3 and Jack S. Remington1,2

Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Research Institute, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Palo Alto, California 943011; Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 943052; and Laboratoire de Serologie Neonatale et de Recherche sur la Toxoplasmose, Institut de Puericulture de Paris, 75014 Paris, France3

Received 8 June 2000/Returned for modification 17 July 2000/Accepted 18 August 2000

We examined the efficiency of detection of immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies to a 35-kDa antigen (P35) of Toxoplasma gondii for serodiagnosis of acute infection in pregnant women. A double-sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with recombinant P35 antigen (P35-IgM-ELISA) was used for this purpose. On the basis of the clinical history and the combination of results from the toxoplasma serological profile (Sabin-Feldman dye test, conventional IgM and IgA ELISAs, and the differential agglutination test), the patients were classified into three groups: group I, status suggestive of recently acquired infection; group II, status suggestive of infection acquired in the distant past; group III, status suggestive of persisting IgM antibodies. Eighteen (90.0%) of 20 serum samples from group I patients were positive by the P35-IgM-ELISA, whereas none of the 33 serum samples from group II patients were positive. Only 4 (25.0%) of 16 serum samples from group III patients were positive by the P35-IgM-ELISA, whereas all these serum samples were positive by the conventional IgM ELISA. These results indicate that demonstration of IgM antibodies against P35 by the P35-IgM-ELISA is more specific for the acute stage of the infection than demonstration of IgM antibodies by the ELISA that uses a whole-lysate antigen preparation. Studies with sera obtained from four pregnant women who seroconverted (IgG and IgM antibodies) during pregnancy revealed that two of them became negative by the P35-IgM-ELISA between 4 and 6 months after seroconversion, whereas the conventional IgM ELISA titers remained highly positive. The P35-IgM-ELISA appears to be useful for differentiating recently acquired infection from those acquired in the distant past in pregnant women.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Research Institute, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, 795 El Camino Real, Ames Building, Palo Alto, CA 94301. Phone: (650) 326-8120. Fax: (650) 329-9853. E-mail: ysuzuki{at}leland.stanford.edu.

dagger Present address: Maxygen, Redwood City, CA 94063.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2000, p. 3967-3970, Vol. 38, No. 11
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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