Affiliation:
1. Department of Immunology, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas,1 and
2. Instituto de Fisiologı́a Celular,2 UNAM, México D.F. 04510, México
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The
Taenia crassiceps
recombinant antigen KETc7 has been shown to be effective as a vaccine against experimental murine cysticercosis, a laboratory model used to test potentially promising molecules against porcine
Taenia solium
cysticercosis. Based on the deduced amino acid sequence of this proline-rich polypeptide, three fragments, GK-1, GK-2, and GK-3, were chemically synthesized in linear form. Of the three peptides, only GK-1 induced sterile protection against
T. crassiceps
cysticercosis in 40 to 70% of BALB/cAnN male mice. GK-1 is an 18-amino-acid peptide which contains at least one B-cell epitope, as demonstrated by its ability to induce an antibody response to the peptide and
T. crassiceps
antigen without need of a carrier protein. Immunofluorescence studies revealed that anti-GK1 antibodies strongly react with the native protein in the tegument of
T. crassiceps
and also with anatomical structures of
T. solium
eggs, oncospheres, cysticercus, and tapeworm. GK-1 also contains at least one T-cell epitope, capable of stimulating the proliferation of CD8
+
and to a lower extent CD4
+
T cells primed either with the free peptide or
T. crassiceps
total antigen. The supernatant of the stimulated cells contained high levels of gamma interferon and low levels of interleukin-4. Similar results were obtained with T cells tested for intracellular cytokine production, an indication of the peptide’s capacity to induce an inflammatory response. The remarkable protection induced by GK-1 immunization, its physicochemical properties, and its presence in all developmental stages of
T. solium
point to this synthetic peptide as a strong candidate in the construction of a synthetic vaccine against
T. solium
pig cysticercosis.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Immunology,Microbiology,Parasitology
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