Sweet secrets of a therapeutic worm: mass-spectrometric N-glycomic analysis of Trichuris suis.

ABSTRACT: Trichuris suis, a nematode parasite of pigs, has attracted attention as its eggs have been administered to human patients as a potential therapy for inflammatory diseases. The immunomodulatory factors remain molecularly uncharacterised, but in vitro studies suggest that glycans on the parasite's excretory/secretory proteins may play a role. Using an off-line LC-MS approach in combination with chemical and enzymatic treatments, we have examined the N-linked oligosaccharides of T. suis. In addition to the paucimannosidic and oligomannosidic N-glycans typical of many invertebrates, a number of glycans carry N,N'-diacetyllactosamine (LacdiNAc) modified by fucose and/or phosphorylcholine. Such antennal epitopes are similar to ones previously associated with immunomodulation by helminths; here w

SUBMITTER: Wilson IB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4712359 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature