Song Hyun-Ouk
Department of Parasitology, School of Medicine, Catholic University of Daegu, Daegu 42472, Korea.
Korean J Parasitol. 2016 Feb;54(1):71-4. doi: 10.3347/kjp.2016.54.1.71. Epub 2016 Feb 26.
Trichomonas vaginalis is a flagellate protozoan parasite and commonly infected the lower genital tract in women and men. Iron is a known nutrient for growth of various pathogens, and also reported to be involved in establishment of trichomoniasis. However, the exact mechanism was not clarified. In this study, the author investigated whether the 120 kDa protein of T. vaginalis may be involved in pathogenicity of trichomonads. Antibodies against 120 kDa protein of T. vaginalis, which was identified as pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase (PFOR) by peptide analysis of MALDI-TOF-MS, were prepared in rabbits. Pretreatment of T. vaginalis with anti-120 kDa Ab decreased the proliferation and adherence to vaginal epithelial cells (MS74) of T. vaginalis. Subcutaneous tissue abscess in anti-120 kDa Ab-treated T. vaginalis-injected mice was smaller in size than that of untreated T. vaginalis-infected mice. Collectively, the 120 kDa protein expressed by iron may be involved in proliferation, adhesion to host cells, and abscess formation, thereby may influence on the pathogenicity of T. vaginalis.
阴道毛滴虫是一种鞭毛原生动物寄生虫，通常感染女性和男性的下生殖道。铁是各种病原体生长所需的已知营养素，也有报道称其与滴虫病的发生有关。然而，确切机制尚不清楚。在本研究中，作者调查了阴道毛滴虫的120 kDa蛋白是否可能参与滴虫的致病性。通过基质辅助激光解吸电离飞行时间质谱（MALDI-TOF-MS）的肽分析鉴定为丙酮酸：铁氧化还原蛋白氧化还原酶（PFOR）的针对阴道毛滴虫120 kDa蛋白的抗体在兔体内制备。用抗120 kDa抗体预处理阴道毛滴虫可降低其增殖以及对阴道上皮细胞（MS74）的黏附。在抗120 kDa抗体处理的阴道毛滴虫注射小鼠中，皮下组织脓肿的大小比未处理的阴道毛滴虫感染小鼠的小。总体而言，铁表达的120 kDa蛋白可能参与增殖、对宿主细胞的黏附以及脓肿形成，从而可能影响阴道毛滴虫的致病性。
