Isolation and molecular characterization of a major hemolymph serpin from the triatomine, Panstrongylus megistus.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Chagas disease kills 2.5 thousand people per year of 15 million persons infected in Latin America. The disease is caused by the protozoan, Trypanosome cruzi, and vectored by triatomine insects, including Panstrongylus megistus, an important vector in Brazil. Medicines treating Chagas disease have unpleasant side effects and may be ineffective, therefore, alternative control techniques are required. Knowledge of the T. cruzi interactions with the triatomine host needs extending and new targets/strategies for control identified. Serine and cysteine peptidases play vital roles in protozoan life cycles including invasion and entry of T. cruzi into host cells. Peptidase inhibitors are, therefore, promising targets for disease control.

Methods

SDS PAGE and chromatograpy

SUBMITTER: Moreira CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3898217 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature