A 23-year-old female residing in a village of Cao Bang Province, North Vietnam, visited the Hospital of Hanoi Medical University in July 2013. She felt dim eyes and a bulge-sticking pain in her left eye for some days before visiting the hospital. In the hospital, a clinical examination, an eye endoscopy, and an operation were carried out. A nematode specimen was collected from the eye of this patient. The body of this worm was thin and long and measured 22.0x0.3 mm. It was morphologically suggested as an immature female worm of Angiostrongylus cantonensis. By a molecular method using 18S rRNA gene, this nematode was confirmed as A. cantonensis. This is the first molecular study for identification of A. cantonensis in Vietnam.
Angiostrongylus cantonensis/classification/*genetics/*isolation & purification ; Animals ; Base Sequence ; Eye/parasitology ; Eye Diseases/diagnosis/*parasitology ; Female ; Humans ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Strongylida Infections/diagnosis/*parasitology ; Vietnam ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo identify the type of the intermediate filament (IF) protein of Angiostrongylus cantonensis and analyze its tissue localization.

METHODSRecombinant pET-IF of antigen IF was expressed in E.coli with IPTG induction, and the expression products were purified by His.Bind column and identified for determining the type of the IF protein by Western blotting. Anti-IF antibody was prepared by multi-spot subcutaneous injection into mouse and used to detect the tissue slices of A. cantonensis by immunohistochemical analysis.

RESULTSThe antigen IF were correctly expressed and purified, and identified as a keratin located in the intestine wall and cytoplusma.

CONCLUSIONThe antigen IF is distributed in the intestine wall of A. cantonensis.

Angiostrongylus cantonensis ; cytology ; metabolism ; Animals ; Cell Nucleus ; metabolism ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Intermediate Filament Proteins ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; metabolism ; Protein Transport