Antibody response in central nervous system to the antigenic preparation of Mucor and Aspergillus

Introduction and objective: Aspergillus and Mucor are found to cause life threatening infections. Though cerebral aspergillosis and mucormycosis are rare, the disease mortality rate is found to be predominant in patients with immune system being compromised. Because of the high mortality rate of this infection, early diagnosis and prompt initiation of treatment are crucial as effective treatment improves the overall management of diseases. The objective of the present study was to screen for a method in diagnosing cerebral aspergillosis and cerebralmucor-mycosis.

Materials and methods: In the present study the antigens were effectively extracted from Aspergillus and Mucor, and then they were characterized using native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and their diagnostic potential was evaluated by ELISA.

Results: Among the bands visualized Aspergillus flavus showed four distinct bands, two bands in A. fumigatus but a diffused band was noticed with Mucor. Clinical analysis by ELISA conducted in 47 cerebro spinal fluid samples from patients suspected for chronic meningitis infection were found to be positive for antigens in 8.51%, 6.38% and 12.76% for A. flavus, A. fumigatus and Mucor, respectively.

Conclusion: From the results, it was concluded that ELISA can be used as a sensitive and reproducible test for diagnosis of cerebral aspergillosis and mucormycosis.

Significance and impact of the study: With regard to the study on the fungal antigen which infects the central nervous system and also understanding the importance of ELISA as a sensitive and reproducible diagnostic tool, early diagnosis of cerebral aspergillosis and mucormycosis is possible.