1996 Volume 24 Issue 4 Pages 237-239
Western blot analysis was carried out on sera obtained from patients with P. falciparum (Pf) and P. vivax (Pv) on an antigen preparation of a laboratory propagated isolate of Pf (# 40) cultured in vitro. The reactivity to a 47kD band was sought based on the results from a previous study (Kano et al., 1990a). Pooled Pf sera (n=15) reacted with the 47kD band whereas pooled Pv sera (n=13) as well as pooled normal human sera (n=45) were not reactive with the 47kD band. An interesting finding was that the pooled Pvsera reacted with a 29kD band instead, while the pooled Pf sera was non-reactive to the 29kD band. In addition, two of four Pf-and three of four Pv-individual sera reacted with the 47kD and 29kD bands respectively. All of these sera had high IFAT (indirect fluorescent antibody test) titer. One of the sera obtained reacted with both the 47kD and 29kD bands but was later found to be from a patient with mixed Pf and Pv infection. The potential of these findings in diagnosis of Pf and Pv infections is discussed.
