Partial Purification of Integral Membrane Antigenic Proteins from Trypanosoma evansi That Display Immunological Cross-Reactivity with Trypanosoma vivax.

Trypanosoma evansi and Trypanosoma vivax, which are the major causative agents of animal trypanosomosis in Venezuela, have shown a very high immunological cross-reactivity. Since the production of T. vivax antigens is a limiting factor as this parasite is difficult to propagate in experimental animal models, our goal has been to identify and isolate antigens from T. evansi that cross-react with T. vivax. Here, we used the Venezuelan T. evansi TEVA1 isolate to prepare the total parasite lysate and its corresponding cytosolic and membranous fractions. In order to extract the T. evansi integral membrane proteins, the particulate portion was further extracted first with Triton X-100, and then with sodium dodecyl sulfate. After discarding the cytosolic and Triton X-100 solubilized proteins, we employed sedimentation by centrifugation on linear sucrose gradients to partially purify the sodium dodecyl sulfate-solubilized proteins from the Triton X-100 resistant particulate fraction of T. evansi. We obtained enriched pools containing polypeptide bands with apparent molecular masses of 27 kDa, 31 kDa, and 53 kDa, which were recognized by anti-T. vivax antibodies from experimentally and naturally infected bovines.

Isolation of two antigens from Trypanosoma evansi that are partially responsible for its cross-reactivity with Trypanosoma vivax.

In Venezuela, two non-tsetse transmitted trypanosomes, Trypanosoma evansi and Trypanosoma vivax, are the major etiological agents of animal trypanosomosis. Rodents can be experimentally infected with T. evansi in order to obtain enough parasites to prepare antigens for serological tests. On the contrary, the production of T. vivax antigens is a limiting factor in most laboratories. Since T. evansi and T. vivax have exhibited a very high immunological cross-reactivity, we have focused on the identification of antigens from T. evansi responsible for this phenomenon. The predominant 64 kDa glycosylated cross-reacting antigen was recently purified from the TEVA1 T. evansi Venezuelan isolate [Parasitology 124 (2002) 287]. Here, we purified two additional cross-reacting antigens with molecular masses of approximately 51 and 68 kDa from the cytosolic fraction of the same T. evansi isolate, by sequential chromatography on DEAE-sepharose and sephacryl S-300. Sera obtained from animals infected with T. evansi or T. vivax recognized both purified proteins, suggesting their potential use as diagnostic reagents.