Significance of galactomannan antigen for aspergillosis diagnosis: A review

Document Type : Review Article

Authors

1 Mycology Research Center, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

2 Chronic Respiratory Diseases Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

3 Mycology Research Center

4 Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Invasive aspergillosis is one the major causes of death in hematopoietic and solidtransplant
recipients. One of the most critical problems in medical mycology is the
inability to consistently make a convincing and early diagnosis of invasive fungal
infection. Conventional diagnosis methods such as culture-based approaches are limited
by the insufficient accessibility sensitivity and the non-culture-based approaches based on
the detection of specific fungal antigens, fungal metabolites, and fungal DNA are limited
by the slow speed of analysis. Early diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis is the main
complication in its treatment. Galactomannan is a polysaccharide present in the cell wall
of Aspergillus species. This carbohydrate is released into the serum during the invasion of
Aspergillus. Recently, a double-sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
was developed for detecting galactomannan antigenemia in the serum. This assay is an
important advancement in the nonculture diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis. The level of
galactomannan in the serum may be an important indication of therapeutic response. In
this review, the role of galactomannan in the diagnosis of IA and its significance has been
highlighted.

Keywords


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