DETECTION OF PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM LACTATE DEHYDROGENASE: A PROMISING APPROACH TO QUICK DIAGNOSIS OF MALARIA

摘要

To establish a quick and applicable diagnostic method has been a major target in immunological research on malaria. Of all approaches studied, circulating antigen (CAg) detection seems to be the most promising. Scientists have encountered tough difficulties in the analysis and purification of malaria parasite antigen because of its high complexity. Studies showed that plasmodium falciparum (P.f) lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH), as a specific CAg of malaria parasite, is apparently different from that of human erythrocytes (rLDH) both in their physical and biochemical characteristics, and is very easy to be identifed. Consequently, pLDH detection has a great potential to be developed into a method for assessing parasitemia. This paper reviewed the methods for the purification, separation, identification of pLDH and the prospect of its clinical applications as an ideal detector of the presence of malaria parasite in order to speed up this research.