Standardized immunoenzyme analysis for detection of IgG antibodies against Candida albicans in systemic candidiasis

Carceller, A.; Torres-Rodríguez, J. M.; Lowinger, M.; Alía, C.

We evaluate the usefulness of an ELISA test for detecting IgG antibodies against Candida albicans somatic and metabolic antigens. We studied 68 sera samples of patients with disseminated candidosis due to C. albicans in most of the cases. We used an ELISA test standardized with a monoclonal anti-IgG conjugate marked with peroxidase and soluble C. albicans antigens. We used as controls 84 sera from healthy individuals or patients without any evidence for disseminated candidosis. The maximum sensitivity for protein antigen of metabolic origin was 67.6%, with an specificity of 77.3%. For the somatic antigen, specificity was higher (83.3%) and positive predictive value was 0.741. We believe that IgG-ELISA gives useful data for diagnosis and follow-up of patients with disseminated candidosis.