Mduluza, T. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2021

Scoping review of the applications of peptide microarrays on the fight against human infections.

IntroductionThis scoping review explores the use of peptide microarrays in the fight against infectious diseases. The research domains explored included the use of peptide microarrays in the mapping of linear B-cell and T cell epitopes, antimicrobial peptide discovery, immunosignature characterisation and disease immunodiagnostics. This review also provides a short overview of peptide microarray synthesis. MethodsElectronic databases were systematically searched to identify relevant studies. The review was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews and data charting was performed using a predefined form. The results were reported by narrative synthesis in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. ResultsEighty-six articles from 100 studies were included in the final data charting process. The majority (93%) of the articles were published during 2010-2020 and were mostly from Europe (44%) and North America (34 %). The findings were from the investigation of viral (44%), bacterial (30%), parasitic (25%) and fungal (2%) infections. Out of the serological studies, IgG was the most reported antibody type followed by IgM. The largest portion of the studies (78%) were related to mapping B-cell linear epitopes, 10% were on diagnostics, 9% reported on immunosignature characterisation and 6% reported on viral and bacterial cell binding assays. Two studies reported on T-cell epitope profiling. ConclusionThe most important application of peptide microarrays was found to be B-cell epitope mapping or antibody profiling to identify diagnostic and vaccine targets. Immunosignatures identified by random peptide microarrays were found to be applied in the diagnosis of infections and interrogation of vaccine responses. The analysis of the interactions of random peptide microarrays with bacterial and viral cells using binding assays enabled the identification of antimicrobial peptides. Peptide microarray arrays were also used for T-cell linear epitope mapping which may provide more information for the design of peptide-based vaccines and for the development of diagnostic reagents.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2018

In-depth proteomic characterization of Schistosoma haematobium: towards the development of new tools for elimination

BackgroundSchistosomiasis is a neglected disease affecting hundreds of millions worldwide. Of the three main species affecting humans, Schistosoma haematobium is the most common, and is the leading cause of urogenital schistosomiasis. S. haematobium infection can cause different urogential clinical complications, particularly in the bladder, and furthermore, this parasite has been strongly linked with squamous cell carcinoma. A comprehensive analysis of the molecular composition of its different proteomes will contribute to developing new tools against this devastating disease.\n\nMethods and FindingsBy combining a comprehensive protein fractionation approach consisting of OFFGEL electrophoresis with high-throughput mass spectrometry, we have performed the first in-depth characterisation of the different discrete proteomes of S. haematobium that are predicted to interact with human host tissues, including the secreted and tegumental proteomes of adult flukes and secreted and soluble egg proteomes. A total of 662, 239, 210 and 138 proteins were found in the adult tegument, adult secreted, soluble egg and secreted egg proteomes, respectively. In addition, we probed these distinct proteomes with urine to assess urinary antibody responses from naturally infected human subjects with different infection intensities, and identified adult fluke secreted and tegument extracts as being the best predictors of infection.\n\nConclusionWe provide a comprehensive dataset of proteins from the adult and egg stages of S. haematobium and highlight their utility as diagnostic markers of infection intensity for the development of novel tools to control this important neglected tropical disease.\n\nAuthor SummarySchistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease affecting millions of people worldwide. Of the main three species affecting humans, Schistosoma haematobium is the most common, and is the leading cause of urogenital schistosomiasis. This parasite can cause a range of clinical complications associated with bladder pathogenesis, including squamous cell carcinoma as well as genital malignancy in women. Herein, we have performed the first comprehensive characterisation of the proteins implicated in host-parasite interactions (secreted and surface proteins from the adult flukes and secreted and soluble egg proteins) in order to advance our understanding of the parasites biology. Furthermore, we have characterised the different antibody responses in urine from infected human subjects from an endemic area presenting different infection intensities. The data obtained in this study can be used as a first step towards the development of novel tools for the control of urogenital schistosomiasis.

microbiology↗