Trypanosoma cruzi: IMMUNE RESPONSE AND HEART FUNCTIONAL DAMAGE INDUCED IN MICE BY THE MAIN LINEAR B-CELL EPITOPE OF PARASITE RIBOSOMAL P PROTEINS.

MOTRÁN CC, CERBÁN FM, RIVAROLA W, IOSA D, VOTTERO DE CIMA E.

EXPERIMENTAL PARASITOLOGY

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 1998 vol. 88 p. 223 - 223

0014-4894

e report herein on the specific and autoimmune humoral response generated by the immunization of mice with the R13 synthetic peptide coupled to a carrier protein, OVA. This peptide corresponds to the C-terminal region of Trypanosoma cruzi ribosomal P1 and P2 proteins (EEEDDDMGFGLFD), a sequence that differs from the other eukariotic P consensus sequence (EESDDDMGFGLFD) only in a nonconservative amino acid substitution. The antibody response studied by ELISA revealed that all R13-immunized mice had antibodies against R13, consisting mainly of IgG1 and IgG2 isotypes, even though IgG3 and IgE isotypes were also observed. The self-reactivity of anti-R13 sera assayed by immunoblot, revealed that all sera contained IgG antibodies binding to mouse and human 38-kDa heart antigen. This antigenic band binds several immunoglobulin isotypes (IgG2 > IgG3 > IgE > IgG1). The specificity of anti-R13 antibodies analyzed by competitive inhibition of R13 ELISA using R13 and R7 (MGFGLFD) peptides reveale