Institute of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University Hospital Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53127 Bonn, Germany.
Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L3 5RF, UK.
Int J Parasitol. 2017 Dec;47(14):903-912. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2017.06.001. Epub 2017 Jul 23.
Onchocerciasis, a neglected tropical disease prevalent in western and central Africa, is a major health problem and has been targeted for elimination. The causative agent for this disease is the human parasite Onchocerca volvulus. Onchocerca ochengi and Litomosoides sigmodontis, infectious agents of cattle and rodents, respectively, serve as model organisms to study filarial nematode infections. Biomarkers to determine infection without the use of painful skin biopsies and microscopic identification of larval worms are needed and their discovery is facilitated by an improved knowledge of parasite-specific metabolites. In addition to proteins and nucleic acids, lipids may be suitable candidates for filarial biomarkers that are currently underexplored. To fill this gap, we present the phospholipid profile of the filarial nematodes O. ochengi, O. volvulus and L. sigmodontis. Direct infusion quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) mass spectrometry was employed to analyze the composition of phospholipids and their molecular species in the three nematode species. Analysis of the phospholipid profiles of plasma or serum of uninfected and infected hosts showed that nematode-specific phospholipids were below detection limits. However, several phospholipids, in particular ether lipids of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), were abundant in O. ochengi worms and in bovine nodule fluid, suggesting that these phospholipids might be released from O. ochengi into the host, and could serve as potential biomarkers.
盘尾丝虫病是一种流行于非洲西部和中部的被忽视热带病,是一个主要的健康问题,已被列为消除目标。该病的病原体是人寄生虫盘尾丝虫。奥氏曼森线虫和西里伯瑞氏丝虫分别是牛和啮齿动物的传染性病原体,是研究丝虫感染的模式生物。需要有无需进行疼痛皮肤活检和幼虫蠕虫的显微镜鉴定就能确定感染的生物标志物,而寄生虫特异性代谢物的相关知识的提高有助于其发现。除了蛋白质和核酸之外,脂质也可能是目前探索不足的丝虫生物标志物的合适候选物。为了填补这一空白,我们介绍了盘尾丝虫、奥氏曼森线虫和西里伯瑞氏丝虫的磷脂谱。采用直接进样四极杆飞行时间(Q-TOF)质谱法分析了这三种线虫物种中磷脂及其分子种类的组成。对未感染和感染宿主的血浆或血清中磷脂谱的分析表明,线虫特异性磷脂的含量低于检测限。然而,几种磷脂,特别是磷脂酰乙醇胺(PE)的醚脂,在奥氏曼森线虫蠕虫和牛结节液中含量丰富,这表明这些磷脂可能从奥氏曼森线虫释放到宿主中,并可能作为潜在的生物标志物。