PMID: 11915441Mar 28, 2002Paper

Partial purification and use of Trypanosoma cruzi glycosidic fractions for Chagas disease diagnosis

Acta científica venezolana
A R De Lima RiveroV T Contreras Alvarez

Abstract

Protein and glycoprotein fractions are used for Chagas' disease diagnosis, but they are degraded by parasite endogenous proteases. Therefore protease inhibitors are used for their conservation increasing the antigen cost. The possibility of using protease-resistant glycosidic fractions could solve this problem allowing to obtain stable antigens, with a high sensitivity at a lower cost. This proposal is reinforced by the existence of anti-galactosyl antibodies against T. cruzi oligosaccharic fractions in sera from chagasic patients. The aim of this work was to obtain T. cruzi glycosidic fractions and to evaluate their possible use for Chagas' disease serologic diagnosis. Total protein and glycoproteins from the four stages of T. cruzi were obtained. The glycosidic fractions were obtained by exhaustive proteolysis with Proteinase K. Protein, glycoprotein and glycosidic profiles were analysed by SDS-PAGE followed by staining proteins (Coomassie/silver) or glycoproteins and glycosidic fractions (APABGP). Antigenicity of the different fractions was determined by Western Blot and luminography, using control hyperimmune serum anti-epimastigote and a "pool" of chagasic human sera. Finally, the capacity of the glycosidic fractions to di...Continue Reading

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