A rapid antibody detection test is very useful for the detection of
lymphatic filariasis, especially for certification and surveillance of post-
mass drug administration. panLF Rapid kit is suitable for this purpose since it can detect all species of lymphatic filaria. It is based on the detection of anti-filarial
IgG4 antibodies that react with recombinant B. malayi
antigens, BmR1 and BmSXP. There is an increase demand for the test due to its attributes of being rapid, sensitive and specific results, as well as its field-applicability. The main aim of this paper is to obtain high recovery and purity of recombinant
antigen BmSXP via a modified method of immobilized
metal affinity chromatography (
IMAC). The highest product yield of 11.82 mg/g dry cell weight (DCW) was obtained when
IMAC was performed using the optimized protocol of 10 mM
imidazole concentration in lysis
buffer, 30 mM
imidazole concentration in wash
buffer, and 10 column volume wash
buffer containing 300 mM
salt concentration. This gave a 54%
protein recovery improvement over the manufacturer's protocol which recorded a product yield of only 7.68 mg/g DCW. The recovered BmSXP recombinant
antigen showed good western blot reactivity, high sensitivity (31/32, 97%) and specificity (32/32, 100%) in ELISA, thus attesting to its good purity and quality.