A genomic expression library of Leishmania aethiopica was constructed in lambda gt11 and screened with patient sera and sera from healthy people living in an area of endemicity. Forty-five recombinant clones were isolated and partly characterized. Clone-specific
antibodies were prepared and used with
sodium dodecyl sulfate-
polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western immunoblot analysis to estimate the molecular masses of the parasite-derived
antigens containing the reactive
epitope(s).
Antigens with apparent molecular masses of 90, 85, 63, 50, 41, 25 and 24 kDa as well as several
antigens with lower molecular masses were detected. The clone-specific
antibodies from patients with
diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis reacted with high-molecular-weight
antigens (30,000 less than Mr less than 90,000), whereas
antibodies from patients with localized
cutaneous leishmaniasis recognized low-molecular-weight
antigens (Mr less than 25,000). Nine different purified recombinant
antigens were obtained from lysogens in Escherichia coli Y1089 by immunoaffinity chromatography on anti-
beta-galactosidase columns and were subsequently tested with patient sera. It is suggested that some of these recombinant
antigens might be used for immunodiagnostic purposes.