Antigenic Make-Up of Trypanosoma cruzi Culture Forms: Identification of a Specific Component

Abstract

A comparison of T. cruzi water soluble antigens with those of stercorarian [T. cruzi, T. dionisii and T. rangeli] and salivarian [T. brucei brucei and T. brucei gambiense] trypanosomes, and Leishmania using immunoprecipitation in gels and immunoelectrophoresis, with the aid of hyperimmune rabbit serum and heterologous adsorptions showed the following. There is a high complexity of soluble antigens of T. cruzi and T. rangeli. At the intraspecific level results demonstrated the antigenic stability of T. cruzi when maintained in vitro, and that there was quantitative antigenic consistency of the culture forms of different strains of T. cruzi from diverse geographic sources and mammalian hosts. At the interspecific level, the antigenic relationships between T. cruzi and the other Trypanosomatidae were established, as follows: 6/10 of the antigens are shared by stercorarian species (T. dionisii, T. rangeli); 4/10 by a salivarian trypanosome (T. brucei); and 3/10 by Leishmania (L. donovani, L. mexicana). Among the 4/10 of antigenic components specific to T. cruzi, one component was characterized by its antigenicity and immunogenicity in natural and experimental infections, and in immunization experiments; this component was specific to T. cruzi when compared to the other Trypanosomatidae antigens.