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Protective Immunization with a Novel Membrane Protein of Plasmodium yoelii-Infected Erythrocytes
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Protective Immunization with a Novel Membrane Protein of Plasmodium yoelii-Infected Erythrocytes

James M Burns, Eric K Adeeku and Patricia D Dunn
Infection and immunity, v 67(2), pp 675-680
Feb 1999
PMID: 9916076
url
https://doi.org/10.1128/IAI.67.2.675-680.1999View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Microbial Immunity and Vaccines
Immunization with a particulate fraction of blood-stage antigens was shown previously to protect mice against Plasmodium yoelii malaria. To identify antigens inducing the protective response, sera from immunized mice were used to screen a P. yoelii cDNA expression library. Sequence analysis of one 2.6-kb cDNA clone indicated that the identified gene, pypag-1 , encoded a novel plasmodial antigen. Two nonoverlapping regions of pypag-1 were expressed in Escherichia coli . The first recombinant antigen, pAg-1N, contained the N-terminal 337 residues, which included a putative transmembrane domain and a region relatively rich in tryptophan residues. The second recombinant antigen, pAg-1C, contained the remaining C-terminal 211 residues, which included 31 copies of a 5-amino-acid degenerative repeat. Immunoblot studies using rabbit antiserum raised against recombinant pAg-1N showed that the native pypAg-1 protein migrated at approximately 98 kDa, considerably slower than its predicted molecular mass of 66 kDa. Immunofluorescence studies localized the expression of the native pypAg-1 protein both to the cytoplasm and at the surface of P. yoelii -infected erythrocytes. Immunization with either pAg-1N or pAg-1C induced a four- to sevenfold reduction in P. yoelii blood-stage parasitemia. As such, pypAg-1 appears to contain at least two distinct protective epitopes. To our knowledge, this is the first characterization of a protective antigen of P. yoelii that is associated with the erythrocyte membrane.

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Web of Science research areas
Immunology
Infectious Diseases
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