Identification and characterization of glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked Schistosoma mansoni adult worm immunogens.

Metabolic radiolabeling of adult worms of Schistosoma mansoni with [3H]myristic acid has revealed that the fatty acid is incorporated into more than 15 proteins. We have shown that two of these proteins, a 200-kDa glycoprotein known to be exposed on the surface of the adult worm following praziquantel treatment and a 22-kDa glycoprotein that shows an enhanced immune reactivity with sera of vaccinated mice, are anchored to the adult worm membrane via a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) linkage. Both antigens partitioned preferentially into the detergent phase of Triton X-114 and were susceptible, following immunoaffinity purification, to hydrolysis by phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PIPLC) from Bacillus thuringiensis and phospholipase C from Bacillus cereus. Diacylglycerol (DAG) was released following hydrolysis by bacterial PIPLC; however, Trypanosoma brucei GPIPLC failed to release the diacylglycerol from either protein. Treatment with nitrous acid generated phosphatidylinositol (PI) from both proteins, and phospholipase D from rat serum cleaved phosphatidic acid from the 200-kDa protein. Although the functional significance of these GPI-anchored proteins is unknown, their release from the surface of the schistosome may contribute to immune evasion.