Compositions and methods for detecting Trichomonas vaginalis are provided.

The invention concerns variants of JL7 antigens that are suitable for detecting antibodies against Trypanosoma cruzi (causing Chagas disease) in an isolated biological sample. These antigens comprise a JL7 specific amino acid sequence, said JL7 specific sequence consisting of two copies of SEQ ID NO. 2, wherein each of said two copies has an amino acid identity of at least 90% to SEQ ID NO.2 and wherein no further Trypanosoma cruzi specific amino acid sequences are present in said polypeptide. The invention also concerns a composition of polypeptides useful for the detection of antibodies against Trypanosoma cruzi that comprises the above characterized JL7 antigen along with at least one of T. cruzi polypeptides 1F8, Cruzipain, KMP-11 and PAR-2. Moreover, it relates to a method for producing JL7 antigen as well as to diagnostic methods for detecting T. cruzi antibodies using the JL7 polypeptide. In addition, the invention concerns a reagent kit comprising said JL7 polypeptides or composition of Trypanosoma cruzi polypeptides.

Described are methods of treating or preventing a disease in a subject treatable by modulating cell mechanics. The method includes administering to a subject having or at risk for such a disease a pharmaceutical composition. comprising an agent selected from the group comprising a salt, solvate, or stereoisomer of compound (VIII) or its derivatives or a mixture of their constituents, where the compound has the formula:

##STR00001##

The present disclosure is directed to reagents and methods of using the reagents to detect epitopes of Trypanosoma cruzi.

An antigen composition with plurality of antigens from B. microti, and methods of predicting a likelihood of an individual having B. microti infection using the antigen composition as biomarkers of infections of B. microti to human are provided. In particularly preferred aspects, the antigens are immunodominant and have quantified and known relative reactivities with respect to sera of a population infected with the pathogen with an average discriminatory p value of 0.05.

Method and kits are provided determining the presence or absence of parasitic helminth eggs in environmental samples, particularly fecal samples. The methods incorporate egg capture methods and the use of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine specific ligands for egg detection.

The present invention concerns a composition of polypeptides suitable for detecting antibodies against Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) in an isolated biological sample consisting of three polypeptides 1F8, JL7 and Cruzipain. A method of producing a soluble and immunoreactive composition of polypeptides suitable for detecting antibodies against T. cruzi using said composition of polypeptides is also part of the invention. Moreover, the invention concerns a method for detecting antibodies specific for T. cruzi in an isolated sample wherein a composition of said T. cruzi polypeptides is used as well as a reagent kit comprising said composition of T. cruzi polypeptides.

The invention provides methods and compositions for detecting and diagnosing sexually transmitted infections using a string of epitopes (SOE) specific for detection of causative microorganisms. The antigenic epitopes may be single epitope sequences, a plurality of epitope sequences joined by repeats of glycine (-GG-) and/or lysine (-KK-) to form a series of epitopes (SOE), or nucleotide sequences encoding one or more SOEs and host cells harboring said SOE nucleotide sequences. SOEs specific for highly immunogenic regions of proteins from Trichomonas, Treponema and Neisseria species are provided. SOEs to detect the presence of trichomonas species comprise regions from Trichomonas-sptciric aldolase, GAPDH, a-enolase and a-actinin proteins. Pharmaceutical compositions comprising SOEs can also be used as vaccines or to elicit an immune response to specific microorganisms.

Method and kits are provided determining the presence or absence of parasitic helminth eggs in environmental samples, particularly fecal samples. The methods incorporate egg capture methods and the use of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine specific ligands for egg detection.

Method and kits are provided determining the presence or absence of parasitic helminth eggs in environmental samples, particularly fecal samples. The methods incorporate egg capture methods and the use of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine specific ligands for egg detection.