Epitopes of the Plasmodium falciparum clustered-asparagine-rich protein (CARP) recognized by human T-cells and antibodies |
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Authors: | MATS WAHLGREN&dagger ,MARIA-TERESA BEJARANO,MARITA TROYE-BLOMBERG,PETER PERLMANN,ELEANOR RILEY,BRIAN M. GREENWOOD,MANUEL E. PATARROYO,CLARA-ISABEL GONZALES,ALBERTO MARTINEZ |
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Affiliation: | Department of Immunology, University of Stockholm, Sweden. |
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Abstract: | Linear B- and T-cell epitopes have been identified in the Plasmodium falciparum clustered-asparagine-rich-protein (CARP). Twenty-six synthetic peptides, 15-25 amino acids in length, were assayed for their ability to stimulate purified, human T-cells primed to P.falciparum by natural infection to proliferate and/or secrete gamma-interferon (IFN gamma). The plasma of malaria exposed individuals were tested for antibody reactivity with peptides coupled to bovine serum albumin in a semiquantitative ELISA. Two of the peptides (NNFMNRNMKNKNMN/NAKNVNDMYRDGEMS) induced T-cells from many malaria exposed donors to proliferate and/or secrete-IFN gamma. Six peptides bound antibodies from a large number of the plasma samples, the amounts ranging from ten to more than 200 micrograms specific antibody/ml. T-cell activation was most pronounced when the T-cells were from highly immune donors. In contrast, high anti-peptide specific antibody levels were usually detected in the plasma of less immune donors, recently exposed to infection. One short sequence (NAKNVNDMYRDGEMS) was found to contain both T- and B-cell epitopes. Thus, CARP includes both T- and B-cell reactive elements recognized by the human immune system following exposure to the parasite by natural infection. |
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Keywords: | P. falciparum T-cells. interferon-gamma anti-peptide antibodies |
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