Expression of cysteine proteinase type I and II of Leishmania infantum and their recognition by sera during canine and human visceral leishmaniasis

• Published in: Experimental parasitology 2003-03, Vol.103 (3), p.143-151
• Main Authors: Rafati, Sima, Nakhaee, Alireza, Taheri, Tahere, Ghashghaii, Andishe, Salmanian, Ali-Hatef, Jimenez, Maribel, Mohebali, Mehdi, Masina, Slavica, Fasel, Nicolas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Antibodies, Protozoan - blood; Antibodies, Protozoan - immunology; Biological and medical sciences; Cysteine Endopeptidases - classification; Cysteine Endopeptidases - genetics; Cysteine Endopeptidases - immunology; Cysteine Endopeptidases - metabolism; Cysteine proteinases type I and II; Dog; Dog Diseases - immunology; Dog Diseases - parasitology; Dogs; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Experimental protozoal diseases and models; Human; Humans; Immunoblotting; Immunoglobulin G - blood; Immunoglobulin G - immunology; Infectious diseases; Leishmania infantum; Leishmania infantum - enzymology; Leishmania infantum - immunology; Leishmaniasis, Visceral - immunology; Leishmaniasis, Visceral - parasitology; Leishmaniasis, Visceral - veterinary; Lymphocyte Activation; Medical sciences; Molecular Sequence Data; Parasitic diseases; Protozoal diseases; Recombinant Proteins - immunology; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Visceral leishmaniasis
• ISSN: 0014-4894; 1090-2449
• DOI: 10.1016/S0014-4894(03)00097-3

In this study, the mature domains of type I (CPB) and type II (CPA) cysteine proteinases (CPs) of Leishmania infantum were expressed and their immunogenic properties defined using sera from active and recovered cases of human visceral leishmaniasis and sera from infected dogs. Immunoblotting and ELISA analysis indicated that a freeze/thaw extract of parasite antigens showed similar and intensive recognition in both active cases of human and dog sera but lower recognition in recovered human individuals. The total IgG of actively infected human sera was higher than in recovered cases when rCPs were used as antigen. In contrast to dog sera, both active and recovered human cases have higher recognition toward rCPB than rCPA. Furthermore, the asymptomatic dogs in contrast to the symptomatic cases exhibited specific lymphocyte proliferation to both crude antigens and rCPs.