Journal
JOURNAL OF FUNGI
Volume 9, Issue 6, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/jof9060602
Keywords
Pneumocystis; pneumonia; serology; glucanase
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In this study, proteomics was performed on Pneumocystis-infected mice to identify potential antigens for seroprevalence studies. A fungal glucanase was found to be conserved among fungal species and showed a strong correlation with IgG responses to another Pneumocystis antigen. These antigens could serve as useful tools for seroprevalence and seroconversion studies of Pneumocystis.
Pneumocystis jirovecii is the most common cause of fungal pneumonia in children under the age of 2 years. However, the inability to culture and propagate this organism has hampered the acquisition of a fungal genome as well as the development of recombinant antigens to conduct seroprevalence studies. In this study, we performed proteomics on Pneumocystis-infected mice and used the recent P. murina and P. jirovecii genomes to prioritize antigens for recombinant protein expression. We focused on a fungal glucanase due to its conservation among fungal species. We found evidence of maternal IgG to this antigen, followed by a nadir in pediatric samples between 1 and 3 months of age, followed by an increase in prevalence over time consistent with the known epidemiology of Pneumocystis exposure. Moreover, there was a strong concordance of anti-glucanase responses and IgG against another Pneumocystis antigen, PNEG_01454. Taken together, these antigens may be useful tools for Pneumocystis seroprevalence and seroconversion studies.
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