An iron-binding Trypanosoma cruzi urinary antigen

CORRAL RS; BERTOT GM; PETRAY PB; ALTCHEH JM; SINGH M; ORN A; RAPOPORT MF; GRINSTEIN S

Parasite

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Lugar: Paris; Año: 1995 vol. 2 p. 339 - 344

An 80-kDa Trypanosoma cruzi urinary antigen (UAg) was affinity-purified from the urine of infected dogs. We demonstrated that UAg is structurally and functionallyrelated to proteins belonging to the transferrin family, as shown by amino acidsequence and iron binding experiments. Nevertheless, monoclonal antibodies raisedagainst UAg specifically and selectively recognized this parasite´s circulatingantigen. The existence of an 80-kDa T. cruzi antigen co-migrating with UAg could be confirmed when epimastigotes were metabolically labelled with [35S] methionineand then immunoprecipitated with the above mentioned antibodies. We conclude thatUAg is an iron-binding T. cruzi component eliminated in the urine of the infectedhost.