Improved proteomic approach for the discovery of potential vaccine targets in Trypanosoma cruzi

J Proteome Res. 2012 Jan 1;11(1):237-46. doi: 10.1021/pr200806s. Epub 2011 Dec 8.

Abstract

Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, is a devastating parasitic infection affecting millions of people. Although many efforts have been made for the development of immunotherapies, there is no available vaccine against this deadly infection. One major hurdle for the rational approach to develop a T. cruzi vaccine is the limited information about the proteins produced by different phylogenetic lineages, strains, and stages of the parasite. Here, we have adapted a 1D nanoHPLC system to perform online 2D LC-MS/MS, using the autosampler to inject the eluting salt solutions in the first dimension separation. The application of this methodology for the proteomic analysis of the infective trypomastigote stage of T. cruzi led to the identification of 1448 nonredundant proteins. Furthermore, about 14% of the identified sequences comprise surface proteins, most of them glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored and related to parasite pathogenesis. Immunoinformatic analysis revealed thousands of potential peptides with predicted high-binding affinity for major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and II molecules. The high diversity of proteins expressed on the trypomastigote surface may have many implications for host-cell invasion and immunoevasion mechanisms triggered by the parasite. Finally, we performed a rational approach to filter potential T-cell epitopes that could be further tested and validated for development of a Chagas disease vaccine.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antigens, Protozoan / chemistry
  • Antigens, Protozoan / immunology
  • Antigens, Protozoan / metabolism*
  • Cell Line
  • Chagas Disease / drug therapy
  • Chagas Disease / prevention & control
  • Chlorocebus aethiops
  • Chromatography, Reverse-Phase / methods*
  • Computer Simulation
  • Epitope Mapping
  • Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / immunology
  • GPI-Linked Proteins / chemistry
  • GPI-Linked Proteins / immunology
  • GPI-Linked Proteins / metabolism
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / physiology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Models, Immunological
  • Peptide Fragments / chemistry
  • Proteome / chemistry
  • Proteome / immunology
  • Proteome / metabolism*
  • Proteomics
  • Protozoan Proteins / chemistry
  • Protozoan Proteins / immunology
  • Protozoan Proteins / metabolism*
  • Protozoan Vaccines*
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry
  • Trypanosoma cruzi / immunology*
  • Trypanosoma cruzi / metabolism

Substances

  • Antigens, Protozoan
  • Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte
  • GPI-Linked Proteins
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class II
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Proteome
  • Protozoan Proteins
  • Protozoan Vaccines