Detection of species-specific antibody response of humans and mice bitten by sand flies

Abstract

Sand fly saliva plays an important role in Leishmania transmission. We characterized the host antibody response to saliva from 3 sand fly species. Specific IgG was observed in sera from experimentally bitten mice as well as in sera from individuals living in the endemic area of Leishmania tropica in Sanliurfa, Turkey. Sera of Sanliurfa inhabitants showed high IgG levels against saliva of Phlebotomus sergenti and P. papatasi, the 2 most abundant sand fly species in this area, but did not react with saliva of the New World sand fly, Lutzomyia longipalpis. Patients with active Le. tropica lesions possessed significantly higher anti-P. sergenti IgG levels than the healthy individuals from the same place while anti-P. papatasi IgG levels were equal in both groups. Major protein bands in P. papatasi and P. sergenti saliva reacted with both, human and mice sera; in P. papatasi, however, mouse IgG recognized preferentially the 42 kDa protein band while the human IgG reacted strongly with the 30 kDa band. Our data suggest that the antibody response to sand fly saliva could be used for monitoring the exposure of humans and other hosts to sand flies and might be used as a marker of risks for Leishmania transmission in endemic areas.

Las glándulas salivales de dos flebotominos vectores de Leishmania: Lutzomyia migonei (França) y Lutzomyia ovallesi (Ortiz) (Diptera: Psychodidae)

“…Antigenic components in sand fly salivary proteins have been reported to induce the production of immune globulins in animals exposed to sand fly bites (10,13,14). In this regard, Volf and Rohousova (23), found important differences in P. papatasi (Scopoli), P. perniciosus (Newstead) and P. halepensis (Theodor) salivary antigen components.…”

“…The saliva acts as a lubricant, as a cleaner for mouthparts, and as as a food moisturizer; its enzymes aid in the digestion of blood as well as food rich in carbohydrates, and its anticoagulants prevent blood from clotting blood feeding (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7). The saliva also assists the establishment of the parasite within the vertebrate host, and it affects the vector competence of these insects to transmit Leishmania (Ross) (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) (6,(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14).…”

“…Antibodies against sand fly saliva in hamsters (10,22), in mice (11,14) and in humans have been demonstrated after exposure to feeding sand flies or salivary gland extracts (13,14,23).…”

Molecular crosstalks inLeishmania-sandfly-host relationships

“…R epeated exposure to sandfly bites elicits cellular and humoral immune responses in the host (Barral et al, 2000;Valenzuela et al, 2001;Volf & Rohousova, 2001;Rohousova et al, 2005;Gomes et al, 2006). This immune response to salivary antigens was found to be species-specific.…”

“…Dissection of large number of salivary glands is time-consuming, laborious, and it requires productive sandfly colonies. In addition, the number of different antigens in whole salivary gland homogenate increases the chance of nonspecific reactions, since some antigens are shared between different sandfly species (Volf & Rohousova, 2001;Rohousova et al, 2005). To address these problems, a robust method for identification of immunodominant salivary proteins and their production as recombinant proteins was described (Valenzuela, 2002).…”