Detection of microsporidia and microsporidian infections

摘要

Microsporidia are an unusually difficult group of parasites to detect. The new detection method should enable microsporidia to be detected without previous cultivation of the agent, without DNA-amplification techniques and without microscopic methods. A cDNA library is created from the mRNA of an Encephalitozoon cuniculi culture and immunogenic clones with polyclonal antibodies against E. cuniculi are identified and expressed as recombinant antigens after being cloned in an expression vector. Antigens of other types of microsporidia which cannot be cultivated are produced on a DNA-level by hybridising homologous gene sections and by consecutive isolation and expression. This produces a large number of pure antigens which can be used either directly for the serologic detection of antibodies or for immunisation and thus the production of mono and polyclonal antibodies. With these antibodies microsporidia can in turn be directly detected by detecting their antigens in the clinical samples of humans and animals as well as environmental samples and food struffs without previous cultivation of the agent, DNA-amplification techniques or microscopic methods being necessary. The invention can be used to detect microsporidia and microsporidian infections, in particular in the clinical samples of humans and animals as well as environmental samples and food stuffs by antigen-antibody reactions.