Platelia™ Aspergillus Ag

Systemic fungal infections have become more frequent over recent years. This increased incidence is due to the rising number of immunosuppressed patients. The treatment of bone marrow transplantations and malignant disease (with corticosteroids, chemotherapy), represents a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Invasive aspergillosis constitutes one of the most serious infections in immunosuppressed patients.

The development of new tests has improved the diagnosis of these diseases. The patient's survival depends on early diagnosis and rapid introduction of appropriate antifungal therapy.

The Bio-Rad Laboratories Platelia Aspergillus EIA is a one-stage immunoenzymatic sandwich microplate assay that uses the rat monoclonal antibody EBA-2 to detect circulating galactomannan antigen in serum samples. The galactomannan antigen is released in the circulation of immunosuppressed patients during active invasive aspergillosis. The results, expressed in index values, can be obtained in 3 hours instead of the several days for traditional microbiological tests.

Reference

Lin SJ, Schranz J, Teutsch SM. Clin Infect Dis. 2001; Feb 1;32(3):358–66

Step 1

• Anti-galactomannan monoclonal antibodies (anti-GM mAb) are used to coat the wells of the microplate

Step 2

• The treated serum sample and the conjugate reagent (HRP labelled anti-GM mAb) are added to the wells
• In the presence of GM antigen (Ag) in the serum of the patient, the anti-GM mAb bind the GM Ag and a mAb-GM-mAb/HRP complex is formed

Step 3

• The addition of the substrate solution allows the revelation of any mAb-GM-mAb complexes, by a reaction forming a blue color