Proteomics Investigations of Potential Protein Biomarkers in Sera of Rabbits Infected With Schistosoma japonicum

Abstract

Schistosomiasis is a chronic parasitic disease that continues to be a pressing public health problem in many developing countries. The primary pathological damage from the disease is granuloma and fibrosis caused by egg aggregation, and early treatment can effectively prevent the occurrence of liver fibrosis. Therefore, it is very important to identify biomarkers that can be used for early diagnosis of Schistosoma japonicum infection. In this study, a label-free proteomics method was performed to observe the alteration of proteins before infection, 1 and 6 weeks after infection, and 5 and 7 weeks after treatment. A total of 10 proteins derived from S. japonicum and 242 host-derived proteins were identified and quantified as significantly changed. Temporal analysis was carried out to further analyze potential biomarkers with coherent changes during infection and treatment. The results revealed biological process changes in serum proteins compared to infection and treatment groups, which implicated receptor-mediated endocytosis, inflammatory response, and acute-phase response such as mannan-binding lectin serine peptidase 1, immunoglobulin, and collagen. These findings offer guidance for the in-depth analysis of potential biomarkers of schistosomiasis, host protein, and early diagnosis of S. japonicum and its pathogenesis. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD029635.

A target-based discovery from a parasitic helminth as a novel therapeutic approach for autoimmune diseases

“…S. japonicum eggs were isolated from the livers of infected New Zealand rabbits as described previously. 23 …”

Progresses and challenges in Strongyloides spp. proteomics

“…The most commonly investigated samples are plasma/serum and plasma/serum-derived EVs (either from animal models or from patients), even though also tissue proteomics has been described [69,70]. Importantly, a number of studies identified parasite proteins within the host's systemic or vesicular proteome, supporting the relevance of host proteomics also in revealing novel diagnostic markers [67,68,71,72,74,75].…”

“…Such analysis could however be particularly useful in revealing novel facets of the pathological mechanisms associated with human strongyloidiasis, especially when applied in comparative studies. Indeed, this strategy has already been successfully applied to the study of other helminthiases, including schistosomiasis, fasciolosis and echinococcosis, to identify proteins or biological processes altered in the pathological state compared to uninfected controls, during the disease progression or in response to treatment [66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76]. The most commonly investigated samples are plasma/serum and plasma/serumderived EVs (either from animal models or from patients), even though also tissue proteomics has been described [69,70].…”

“…The most commonly investigated samples are plasma/serum and plasma/serumderived EVs (either from animal models or from patients), even though also tissue proteomics has been described [69,70]. Importantly, a number of studies identified parasite proteins within the host's systemic or vesicular proteome, supporting the relevance of host proteomics also in revealing novel diagnostic markers [67,68,71,72,74,75]. Considering strongyloidiasis, many studies have investigated the systemic host response to the infection through the measurement of specific circulating factors, especially cytokines [11,[77][78][79][80][81][82][83].…”

Profiling the serum proteome during Schistosoma mansoni infection in the BALB/c mice: A focus on the altered lipid metabolism as a key modulator of host-parasite interactions

“…Therefore, analysis of the serum proteome in the context of schistosomiasis could provide the basis to comprehend the metabolic reprogramming operating at target tissues. Recent studies have investigated the serum proteome during S. japonicum infection in animal models of the disease and markers of infection have been proposed ( 12 , 13 ). To our knowledge, we are the first to investigate the serum proteome in the context of S. mansoni infection, in the murine model, with a particular focus on proteins related to lipid metabolism.…”