Identification and quantification of host proteins in the vesicular fluid of porcine Taenia solium cysticerci.

Abstract The host–parasite relationship in cestode infections is complex. One feature of this bidirectional molecular communication is the uptake of host proteins by the parasite. Here we describe the presence of several host proteins in the vesicular fluid of Taenia solium cysticerci dissected from the central nervous system and the skeletal muscle of naturally infected pigs. Using two-dimensional electrophoresis we compared the protein patterns of vesicular fluids of cysticerci vs. the sera of cysticercotic pigs. We found that the vesicular fluids of both groups of cysts showed 17 protein spots matching with the pig’s sera spots. After mass spectrometry sequencing of these spots, five host proteins were identified: hemoglobin, albumin, serpin A3–8, haptoglobin, rho GTPase-activating protein 36-like. Three of the 17 spots corresponded to host protein fragments: hemoglobin, albumin and serpin A3–8. IgG heavy and light chains were also identified by Western blot using a specific antibody. Quantitative estimations indicated that the host proteins represented 11–13% of the protein content in the vesicular fluids. We also calculated the relative abundance of these host proteins in the vesicular fluids; all were represented in similar relative abundances as in host sera. This suggests that uptake of host proteins by cysticerci proceeds through an unspecific mechanism such as non-specific fluid pinocytosis.