Rabbit serum against K1 peptide, an immunogenic epitope of the Trypanosoma cruzi KMP-11, decreases parasite invasion to cells

Juan Camilo Diaz-Soto, Paola Lasso, Fanny Guzmán, Manu Forero-Shelton, Maria del Carmen Thomas, Manuel Carlos López, Felipe Guhl, Adriana Cuellar, Concepción Judith Puerta, John M. González

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

KMP-11 is a highly conserved protein of . Trypanosoma cruzi implicated in parasite's motility. Here we show that K1, a peptide derived from KMP-11, induced polyclonal antibodies capable of decreasing . T. cruzi infection in vitro. Rabbit sera rose against K1 peptide showed recognition of the recombinant protein by ELISA and Western blot and also of the native protein in both epimastigotes and trypomastigotes as evaluated by immunofluorescence test and flow cytometry. Invasion assays showed a significant reduction of trypomastigotes infection of eukaryotic cells when parasites were pre-incubated with anti-K1 rabbit serum. Computational modeling predicted that the K1 sequence conserved its α-helical configuration into the protein, and some of the amino acid residues appear accessible for recognition by antibodies in vivo. Taken together, these results support the idea that the K1 peptide induces antibodies than can have a potential role in protective immunity in Chagas disease.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)224-229
Number of pages6
JournalActa Tropica
Volume123
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2012

Keywords

  • Anti-peptide antibodies
  • Chagas disease
  • Trypanosoma cruzi

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