Department of Cell Biology and Neurosciences, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
Parasite Immunol. 2011 Mar;33(3):193-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3024.2010.01264.x.
Seeking biomarkers reflecting disease development in cystic echinococcosis (CE), we used a proteomic approach linked to immunological characterisation for the identification of respective antigens. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) of sheep hydatid fluid, followed by immunoblot analysis (IB) with sera from patients with distinct phases of disease, enabled us to identify by mass spectrometry heat shock protein 20 (HSP20) as a potential marker of active CE. Using IB, antibodies specific to the 34 kDa band of HSP20 were detected in sera from 61/95 (64%) patients with CE, but not in sera from healthy subjects. IB revealed anti-HSP20 antibodies in a higher percentage of sera from patients with active disease than in sera from patients with inactive disease (81 vs. 24%; P = 10(-4)). These primary results were confirmed in a long-term follow-up study after pharmacological and surgical treatment. Herewith anti-HSP20 antibody levels significantly decreased over the course of treatment in sera from patients with cured disease, relative to sera from patients with progressive disease (P = 0·017). Thus, during CE, a comprehensive strategy of proteomic identification combined with immunological validation represents a promising approach for the identification of biomarkers useful for the prognostic assessment of treatment of CE patients.
为了寻找反映包虫病（CE）发展的生物标志物，我们采用了一种与免疫学特征相关的蛋白质组学方法来鉴定相应的抗原。通过对绵羊包虫液进行二维凝胶电泳（2-DE），然后用不同疾病阶段患者的血清进行免疫印迹分析（IB），我们通过质谱鉴定出热休克蛋白 20（HSP20）作为 CE 活性的潜在标志物。使用 IB，我们在 95 例 CE 患者中的 61 例（64%）血清中检测到针对 HSP20 的 34 kDa 条带的特异性抗体，但在健康受试者的血清中未检测到。IB 显示，在活动期疾病患者的血清中，抗-HSP20 抗体的检出率高于非活动期疾病患者（81%比 24%；P = 10(-4)）。这些初步结果在药物和手术治疗后的长期随访研究中得到了证实。在此期间，在治愈疾病患者的血清中，抗-HSP20 抗体水平在治疗过程中显著下降，与进展性疾病患者的血清相比（P = 0.017）。因此，在 CE 期间，采用蛋白质组学鉴定与免疫学验证相结合的综合策略，是鉴定对 CE 患者治疗预后评估有用的生物标志物的一种很有前途的方法。
