In pursuit of African trypanosomiasis diagnostic antigens

Abstract

Control of African trypanosomiases is hampered by unsatisfactory diagnostics, in addition to presence of only few efficacious drugs and complete absence of vaccines. Recent publication of the genomes of trypanosomatids of major economic/public health importance has set the stage for rational designs of novel control tools. We have used bioinformatic approaches to identify proteins with predictably high immunogenic potentials, followed by investigation of the same through cloning and expression of implicated fragments. For both the extracellular portions of Trypanosoma brucei nucleoside transporters (TbNTs), as well as the repetitive fragments of a putative antigenic protein, we demonstrated recognition by sera from Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) patients by western blotting. No signals from sera of non-HAT affected individuals, or those with malaria or gastrointestinal infections were detected. Our present aims is to further verify the diagnostic potentials of these antigens by quantification of the antibody levels by ELISA.