INTRODUCTION: The impact of gestational toxocariasis is an understudied topic on female reproductive health. We estimated anti-Toxocara IgG prevalence among pregnant women in Brasília, Brazil, and investigated the association of the infection with history of abortion and contact with pets. METHODS: Infection was diagnosed using ELISA with excretory/secretory antigens. Participant information ...

Herein we show for the first time that Schistosoma mansoni adult worms secrete exosome-like extracellular vesicles ranging from 50 to 130nm in size. Extracellular vesicles were collected from the excretory/secretory products of cultured adult flukes and purified by Optiprep density gradient, resulting in highly pure extracellular vesicle preparations as confirmed by transmission electron micros...

Defining the expression of tumor-associated antigens on primary and metastatic prostate cancer is the crucial first step in selecting appropriate targets for immune attack. In this study, the distribution of the tumor-associated antigens GM2, Tn, sTn, Thompson-Friedenreich antigen (TF), Globo H, Le(y), MUC1, MUC2, MUC3, MUC4, MUC5AC, MUC5B, MUC7, carcinoembryonic antigen, beta chain of human ch...

Immunodominant antigens of an approximate molecular mass of 27 kDa (FG 27) were obtained from an excretory-secretory product of adult Fasciola gigantica by a simple continuous-elution method. A dot-ELISA using the FG 27 antigen was developed for the detection of specific antibodies from patients infected with F. gigantica. Control sera were obtained from patients with other parasitic infections...

The three proteins of the antigen 85 complex (85A, 85B, and 85C), which are major secretory products of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, were purified to homogeneity in large amounts by a combination of chromatography on hydroxylapatite, DEAE-Sepharose, and DEAE-Sephacel and gel filtration from M. tuberculosis culture filtrate. Then we examined the immunological reactivity of the three proteins in t...

Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic parasite with avirulent cystogenic and highly virulent non-cystogenic isolates. Although non-cystogenic strains are considered the most virulent, there are also marked genetic and virulence differences among these strains. Excretory-secretory antigens (ESAs) of T. gondii are critical for the invasion process and the immune response of the host. To better un...

The present study was conducted to characterize the nature and pattern of serum and secretory antibody responses to N. gonorrhoeae by haemagglutination inhibition, opsonization, and immunofluorescence techniques in male and female patients with different clinical manifestations of gonorrhoea. Most male patients with acute gonococcal infection developed serum IgG and, less frequently, IgM antibo...

Tissue recombinants of embryonic urogenital sinus mesenchyme (UGM) and epithelium of the urinary bladder (urothelium, BLE) of adult rats and mice were grown for 3-30 d in male syngeneic hosts. Short-term in vivo growth indicated that prostatic morphogenesis is initiated as focal outgrowths from the basal aspect of the adult urothelium. The solid epithelial buds elongate, branch, and subsequentl...

Secretory immunoglobulin A (S-IgA) was investigated in human secretions for the presence of natural antibodies (Abs) acting as the first "immune barrier" to infection before induction or boosting of specific responses. These molecules could be the secretory counterpart of the natural Abs in serum that were previously shown by our laboratory to be polyreactive to autoantigens. Significant levels...

Immunofluorescence studies with specific antisera to secretory IgA (11S IgA) and secretory piece were carried out on the jejunal mucosa of nine patients with adult coeliac disease (treated and untreated). The results were compared with those obtained in four normal patients and in four patients with local and systemic IgA (7S) deficiency. 11S IgA and secretory piece were localized to the upper ...