Differential Liver Protein Expression during Schistosomiasis

• Published in: Infection and Immunity Vol. 75; no. 2; pp. 736 - 744
• Main Authors: Harvie, Marina, Jordan, Thomas William, La Flamme, Anne Camille
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for Microbiology 01.02.2007
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Disease Models, Animal; Diseases caused by trematodes; Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Helminthic diseases; Infectious diseases; Liver - chemistry; Liver - metabolism; Liver - parasitology; Liver - pathology; Medical sciences; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Microbiology; Molecular Pathogenesis; Parasitic diseases; Proteins - isolation & purification; Proteins - metabolism; Proteome - analysis; Schistosoma mansoni; Schistosomiases; Schistosomiasis mansoni - metabolism; Schistosomiasis mansoni - parasitology; Schistosomiasis mansoni - pathology; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; Infection; Schistosomiasis; Microbiology; Digestive system; Liver; Trematode disease; Parasitosis; Helminthiasis; Immunity; Protein
• ISSN: 0019-9567; 1098-5522
• DOI: 10.1128/IAI.01048-06

The arrival of eggs in the liver during Schistosoma mansoni infection initiates a protective granulomatous response; however, as the infection progresses, this response results in chronic liver fibrosis. To better understand the impact of schistosomiasis on liver function, we used a proteomic approach to identify proteins whose expression was significantly altered in schistosome-infected mice 8 weeks postinfection. Identification of differentially expressed proteins by mass fingerprinting revealed that schistosome infection markedly reduced the abundance of proteins associated with several normal liver functions (i.e., citric acid cycle, fatty acid cycle, and urea cycle), while proteins associated with stress responses, acute phase reactants, and structural components were all significantly more abundant. The expression patterns of several immunity-related proteins (peroxiredoxin 1, arginase 1, and galectin 1) suggested that different protein forms are associated with schistosome infection. These findings indicate that acute schistosomiasis has a significant impact on specific liver functions and, moreover, that the alterations in specific protein isoforms and upregulation of unique proteins may be valuable as new markers of disease.