Monoclonal Antibody Based Elisa:An Effective Diagnostic Tool for the Diagnosis of Falciparum Malaria

Abstract

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system based on the monoclonal antibodies (F2W22C1)
originated fromThai strains of P.falciparumin mice models and polyclonal antibodies raised against Nepali
strains of P.falciparumin rabbitmodels was developed for the detection of local Nepali strain of P.falciparum
antigens in red cell lysates. The monoclonal-polyclonal antibody based indirect ELISA developed for the
detection of P.falciparumantigens was specific since it was positive only with P.falciparuminfected erythrocytes
and negative when blood fromforty healthy individuals collected fromthe malaria non-endemic areas
and forty P.vivax infected erythrocytes were tested. When the test was applied to microscopically confirmed
154 falciparuminfected blood samples collected fromDhanusha district, Nepal; the assay detected only 138
out of 154 P.falciparumsamples indicating the sensitivity of the test to be 89.6%.When the assay was used to
detect forty samples from the patients of unknown origin of fever other than the malaria collected fromthe
malaria endemic areas, all forty samples were negative with the assay system. A significant correlation was
observed (r = 0.872; p = 0.013) in between the parasitemia and the O.D. values obtained fromtheMAb-PAb
based indirect ELISA. The test developed using monoclonal antibodies raised against Thai P. falciparum
isolates and the polyclonal antibodies raised against native Nepali strains of P.falciparum offered high degrees
of sensitivity and specificity. However, the test requires further evaluation with higher number of
samples; requires further improvement in sensitivity; before commercial use of the test in patient care.
Key Words: ELISA, monoclonal antibodies, polyclonal anti-bodies, P. falciparum.