Recombinant Paragonimus westermani Yolk Ferritin Is a Useful Serodiagnostic Antigen

A recombinant protein of Paragonimus westermani yolk ferritin was bacterially produced from a previously cloned complementary DNA and was used as an antigen for an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) against paragonimiasis- and other helminth-infected sera to evaluate its serodiagnostic potential. The ELISA revealed that paragonimiasis westermani had 88.2% sensitivity and 100% specificity. The positive and negative predictive values of the ELISA were calculated to be 100% and 97.1%, respectively. Sera from cats experimentally infected with P. westermani began to produce immunoglobulin G antibodies against the yolk ferritin at 13 weeks after infection, which suggests that the corresponding antigen was derived from the vitellaria in accordance with maturation of P. westermani. These results indicate that the recombinant P. westermani yolk ferritin is a potent serodiagnostic reagent for paragonimiasis westermani from an early stage of the infection.