Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Sunway University, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University, Pakistan
  • 3 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Sunway University, Malaysia. Electronic address: naveed5438@gmail.com
Exp Parasitol, 2016 Jul;166:94-6.
PMID: 27055361 DOI: 10.1016/j.exppara.2016.04.001

Abstract

Balamuthia mandrillaris is a protist pathogen that can cause encephalitis with a mortality rate of more than 95%. Early diagnosis followed by aggressive treatment is a pre-requisite for successful prognosis. Current methods for identifying this organism rely on culture and microscopy, antibody-based methods using animals, or involve the use of molecular tools that are expensive. Here, we describe the isolation of antibody fragments that can be used for the unequivocal identification of B. mandrillaris. B. mandrillaris-specific antibody fragments were isolated from a bacteriophage antibody display library. Individual clones were studied by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and immunofluorescence. Four antibody clones showed specific binding to B. mandrillaris. The usefulness of phage antibody display technology as a diagnostic tool for isolating antibody fragments against B. mandrillaris antigens and studying their biological role(s) is discussed further.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.