IDENTIFICATION OF IMMUNOGENIC PROTEIN OF ASCARIS SUUM

Drug resistance by many naturally occurring nematodes amongst animals has intensified the efforts of scientists for exploring the antigenic protein necessary for survival of parasite. Therefore the present study was undertaken to explore the excretory-secretory (ES) product of adult Ascaris suum for identifying the protein with immunogenic activity associated this fraction of worms. For the purpose, antigenic protein was isolated and purified from the culture medium of adult worms by gel permeation chromatography on Sephadex G-200 and individual elutes were assessed for their antigen city against hyper immune sera, raised in rabbits. The elutes depicting the positive results were pooled and concentrated with PEG-6000 and characterized by SDS-PAGE. The most immunodominant protein was further assessed by immunoblotting. The protein 36 kD depicted immunogenicity and therefore, may be an ideal candidate for the development of vaccine against the helminth infection. In addition, this antigenic protein may also be explored for serodiagnosis of ascariasis in animals under field conditions.