De Benedetti Stefano, Di Pisa Flavio, Fassi Enrico Mario Alessandro, Cretich Marina, Musicò Angelo, Frigerio Roberto, Mussida Alessandro, Bombaci Mauro, Grifantini Renata, Colombo Giorgio, Bolognesi Martino, Grande Romualdo, Zanchetta Nadia, Gismondo Maria Rita, Mileto Davide, Mancon Alessandro, Gourlay Louise Jane
Department of Biosciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy.
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche "Giulio Natta" (SCITEC), Via Mario Bianco 9, 20131 Milano, Italy.
Vaccines (Basel). 2021 Apr 1;9(4):322. doi: 10.3390/vaccines9040322.
The human parasitic disease Schistosomiasis is caused by the trematode flatworm that infects freshwaters in tropical regions of the world, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, and the Far-East. It has also been observed as an emerging disease in Europe, due to increased immigration. In addition to improved therapeutic strategies, it is imperative to develop novel, rapid, and sensitive diagnostic tests that can detect the parasite, allowing timely treatment. Present diagnosis is difficult and involves microscopy-based detection of Schistosoma eggs in the feces. In this context, we present the 3.22 Å resolution crystal structure of the circulating antigen Serine protease inhibitor from (SmSPI), and we describe it as a potential serodiagnostic marker. Moreover, we identify three potential immunoreactive epitopes using in silico-based epitope mapping methods. Here, we confirm effective immune sera reactivity of the recombinant antigen, suggesting the further investigation of the protein and/or its predicted epitopes as serodiagnostic Schistosomiasis biomarkers.
人类寄生虫病血吸虫病由吸虫扁虫引起，这种扁虫感染世界热带地区的淡水，特别是撒哈拉以南非洲、南美洲和远东地区。由于移民增加，在欧洲它也被视为一种新兴疾病。除了改进治疗策略外，开发能够检测该寄生虫的新型、快速且灵敏的诊断测试以实现及时治疗至关重要。目前的诊断很困难，包括基于显微镜检测粪便中的血吸虫卵。在此背景下，我们展示了来自曼氏血吸虫的循环抗原丝氨酸蛋白酶抑制剂（SmSPI）的3.22 Å分辨率晶体结构，并将其描述为一种潜在的血清学诊断标志物。此外，我们使用基于计算机的表位作图方法鉴定了三个潜在的免疫反应性表位。在此，我们证实了重组抗原与有效免疫血清的反应性，这表明需进一步研究该蛋白质和/或其预测的表位作为血吸虫病血清学诊断生物标志物。
