Evaluation of the antibody response to Anopheles salivary antigens as a potential marker of risk of malaria

Abstract

The evaluation of human immune responses to arthropod bites may be a useful marker of exposure to vector-borne diseases, with applications to malaria, the most serious parasitic infection in humans. The specific antibody (Ab) IgG response to saliva obtained from Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes was evaluated in young children from an area of seasonal malaria transmission in Senegal. Specific IgG was higher in children who developed clinical Plasmodium falciparum malaria within the 3 months that followed than in those who did not (P<0.05), and it increased significantly (P<0.0001) with the level of Anopheles exposure, as evaluated by conventional entomological methods. These results suggest that evaluation of antisalivary Ab responses could be a useful approach for identifying a marker for the risk of malaria transmission.

Members of the Salivary Gland Surface Protein (SGS) Family Are Major Immunogenic Components of Mosquito Saliva

“…This was not entirely unexpected, because SGSs are large proteins sharing little homology with any vertebrate protein, and thus, relatively high antibody titers would be expected from a small antigen dose. High immunogenicity opens the possibility that human anti-SGS antibodies could serve as sensitive markers for assessing exposure of humans to mosquito bites (3,7) and that this could be an important tool in areas of low to moderate mosquito density. Furthermore, because the large N-terminal region of the SGSs is highly variable, small recombinant SGS peptides could be used as species-specific and genus-specific antigens in this epidemiological strategy.…”

“…Perhaps the most practical use for mosquito saliva is as a tool for surveying human exposure to mosquito bites (3). A large percentage of the world's population lives in areas where the rate of mosquito-borne disease transmission is not accurately reflected by standard entomological measures of mosquito activity (5,6).…”

Human IgG Antibody Response to Glossina Saliva: An Epidemiologic Marker of Exposure to Glossina Bites

“…An ELISA technique was carried out using WSE from uninfected mixed male and female G. fuscipes fuscipes, and sera were tested for IgG Ab as previously described for Anopheles. 9 Maxisorp plates (Nunc, Roskilde, Denmark) were coated with mixed WSE (2 g/mL) in carbonate/bicarbonate buffer and saturated with blocking buffer (Pierce). Individual sera were incubated (1:120) in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)-Tween 1%, and IgG detection was performed using a mouse anti-human IgG biotinylated mAb (BD Pharmingen, San Diego, CA).…”

“…4,5 Studies on different vectors (Triatoma, Aedes, Phlebotomus, Anopheles) have suggested that the evaluation of human specific Ab response to saliva and/or to recombinant salivary protein could evaluate the exposure of individuals to vector bites and thus could be an indicator of risk to pathogens transmission. [6][7][8][9] Few studies have explored the immune properties of Glossina saliva. 10 Previous study indicated that IgG response to Glossina morsitans morsitans saliva and to specific salivary Tsal proteins were detected in exposed and infected Ugandan populations.…”

Molecular crosstalks inLeishmania-sandfly-host relationships

“…As anti-sandfly saliva antibodies are a good marker of exposure to sandfly bites, their possible use as a marker of risk of Leishmania transmission was tested. In an analogous setting, anti-vector saliva antibody response was suggested as a marker of risk of malaria or Lyme disease transmission (Remoue et al, 2006;Schwartz et al, 1991). However, in humans from endemic area for visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil, the presence of antibodies against Lu.…”