specific egg yolk antibody against recombinant cryptosporidium parvum p23 protein

background: cryptosporidium parvum is a parasitic protozoan that functions as important causa­tive agent of diarrhea in human and animals. the host's immune response to surface anti­gens of c. parvum has been previously demonstrated. in this respect, the role of humoral immu­nity in the development of host protective immunity against this protozoon has been well demon­strated. methods: the effect of specific chicken egg yolk antibody (igy) against recombinant c. parvum p23 was examined. igy sample was prepared from eggs of chickens immunized with recombi­nant c. parvum protein p23 and analyzed with c. parvum lysate and recombinant p23. results : the anti p23 specific igy was recognized a protein band with approximately 23 kda in lys­ates prepared from the c. parvum oocysts. also dot blot analysis of recombinant p23 showed that it could be recognized by the anti p23 specific igy up to 1/1000 dilution of antibody. but the best antibody dilution for immunological studies was determined as 1:200. conclusion: since p23 is an immunodominant surface glycoprotein expressed in the early phase of infection, specific igy against recombinant p23 could be recommended as a favorable candi­date for passive immunization against c. parvum infection in human and animals.