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Leucine rich repeats are the main epitopes in Leishmania infantum PSA during canine and human visceral leishmaniasis
Author(s) -
Boceta Carolina,
Alonso Carlos,
JiménezRuiz Antonio
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
parasite immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.795
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1365-3024
pISSN - 0141-9838
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3024.2000.00269.x
Subject(s) - leishmania infantum , visceral leishmaniasis , biology , antigen , epitope , antibody , leishmania , immunology , immune system , isotype , immunodominance , leishmaniasis , immunogenicity , virology , canine leishmaniasis , parasite hosting , monoclonal antibody , world wide web , computer science
The PSA protein is one of the major antigens of the surface of the Leishmania infantum parasite membrane. We describe the immune humoral response against the PSA in dogs and human patients with visceral leishmaniasis caused by L. infantum . The immunodominant region of the PSA was determined by subcloning, expression and purification of three fragments covering the complete protein. The analysis revealed that the antibodies are mostly directed against the central region, which is formed exclusively by leucine rich repeats. This region is recognized by 100% of the sera from the infected dogs and 40% of the human sera. These percentages are significantly higher than those observed when the complete protein was used as antigen. The analysis of the isotype of the G immunoglobulins raised against the immunodominant determinants of the PSA indicates that both IgG1 and IgG2 classes are produced during natural infections but that the IgG2 predominates over that of the IgG1.