IDENTIFICATION OF HOST PROTEINS IN ECHINOCOCCUS GRANULOSUS GERMINAL CELLS CULTURE

ALBANI, CLARA; FABBRI JULIA; PENSEL, PATRICIA; REINDERS JOERG; ELISSONDO MARIA CELINA

Mar del Plata

Congreso; Reunión conjunta SAIC SAI SAFE 2018; 2018

The parasite Echinococcus granulosus (Eg) is the causative agent of cystic echinococcosis, an important zoonosis that affects humans and ungulate animals. Platyhelminthes have a unique population of undifferentiated stem cells, known as ?germinal cells? which represent an interesting source for studying tissue turnover, growth and regeneration. Recently important advances have been introduced for in vitro cultivation of Eg germinal cells which were mantained in culture for at least 24 month. This provides a useful tool for investigating host?parasite interactions. The host?parasite relationship in cestode infections is complex. One characteristic of this bidirectional molecular communication is the uptake of host proteins by the parasite. Using a proteomic strategy, we describe the presence of several host proteins in Eg germinal cell culture and discusse the potential roles for some of these proteins.Eg primary cell culture was obtained from hydatid cysts and mantained with weekly splitting during 1-4 month. Then, 50 µl of cells were homogenized and the peptide content was estimated. Aliquots of 100 µg protein per sample were used for filter-aided sample preparation and the resulting peptides were subjected to nano-LC-MS/MS-analysis. A combined library was set-up by combining the different runs using the Protein Pilot-software and Uniprot database. We identified 319 host proteins. There were 250 proteins that were assigned to GO terms for molecular function, 242 for cellular component and 226 for biological process. Regarding cellular localization we identified 31.6% secreted proteins, 28.3% cytoplasmic proteins and 14.8% mitochondrial proteins. Some of the most abundant proteins were serum albumin and several proteins related with the immune response such as Ig mu chain C region and complement component C9. Our study provides valuable data on the biological role of the host proteins incorporated by the parasite, allowing novel insights into the molecular mechanisms involved in host?parasite interactions.