Parasitology
- Parasitology / Volume 138 / Special Issue 12 / October 2011, pp 1607-1619
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011. The online version of this article is published within an Open Access environment subject to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/>. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use.
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0031182011000412 (About DOI), Published online: 10 June 2011
- OPEN ACCESS
Research Article
Screening trematodes for novel intervention targets: a proteomic and immunological comparison of Schistosoma haematobium, Schistosoma bovis and Echinostoma caproni
MELISSA HIGÓNa1a2, GRAEME COWANa1, NORMAN NAUSCHa1, DAVID CAVANAGHa1, ANA OLEAGAa4, RAFAEL TOLEDOa2, J. RUSSELL STOTHARDa6, ORETO ANTÚNEZa5, ANTONIO MARCILLAa2, RICHARD BURCHMOREa3 and FRANCISCA MUTAPIa1 c1
a1 Institute of Immunology & Infection Research, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, King's Buildings, West Mains Rd, Edinburgh, EH9 3JT, UK
a2 Area de Parasitología, Dept. Biologia Cellular i Parasitologia, Universitat de València, Av. V.A. Estellés, s/n, 46100 Burjassot (Valencia), Spain
a3 Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, Joseph Black Building, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
a4 Parasitology Laboratory, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Salamanca (IRNASA, CSIC), Cordel de Merinas, 40-52, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
a5 Unidad de proteómica-SCIE, Universitat de València, Dr Moliner, 50, 46100 Burjassot (Valencia), Spain
a6 Centre for Neglected Tropical Disease Control, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, L3 5QA, UK
SUMMARY
With the current paucity of vaccine targets for parasitic diseases, particularly those in childhood, the aim of this study was to compare protein expression and immune cross-reactivity between the trematodes Schistosoma haematobium, S. bovis and Echinostoma caproni in the hope of identifying novel intervention targets. Native adult parasite proteins were separated by 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and identified through electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry to produce a reference gel. Proteins from differential gel electrophoresis analyses of the three parasite proteomes were compared and screened against sera from hamsters infected with S. haematobium and E. caproni following 2-dimensional Western blotting. Differential protein expression between the three species was observed with circa 5% of proteins from S. haematobium showing expression up-regulation compared to the other two species. There was 91% similarity between the proteomes of the two Schistosoma species and 81% and 78·6% similarity between S. haematobium and S. bovis versus E. caproni, respectively. Although there were some common cross-species antigens, species-species targets were revealed which, despite evolutionary homology, could be due to phenotypic plasticity arising from different host-parasite relationships. Nevertheless, this approach helps to identify novel intervention targets which could be used as broad-spectrum candidates for future use in human and veterinary vaccines.
(Revised January 31 2011)
(Revised February 10 2011)
(Accepted February 10 2011)
(Online publication June 10 2011)
Key words
Correspondence:
c1 Corresponding author: Francisca Mutapi. E-mail: fmutapi@staffmail.ed.ac.uk
