Studies on recombinant 23 ku membrane protein from Schistosoma japonicum as antigens in ELISA for serodiagnosis of bovine schistosomiasis

To evaluate the potential of recombinant 23 ku membrane protein of Schistosoma japonicum(Sj23)-produced in the Escherichia coli as a substitute for soluble egg antigen(SEA) as coating antigen in serodiagnosis of bovine schistosomiasis,the sensitivity and specificity of recombinant Sj23 and SEA in ELISA were compared using 189 bovine sera with schistosomiasis and 92 bovine sera without schistosomiasis.The result showed that the sensitivity and specificity of ELISA using SEA as coating antigen were 87.8% and 93.5%,respectively,and the sensitivity and specificity of ELISA using recombinant Sj23 as coating antigen were 90.5% and 92.4%,respectively.No significant difference was found between the two ELISAs on sensitivity and specificity,indicating that the recombinant Sj23 could be used as antigen to replace SEA in serodiagnosis of bovine schistosomiasis.