Antigen Discovery, Bioinformatics and Biological Characterization of Novel Immunodominant Babesia microti Antigens.

ABSTRACT: Babesia microti is an intraerythrocytic parasite and the primary causative agent of human babesiosis. It is transmitted by Ixodes ticks, transfusion of blood and blood products, organ donation, and perinatally. Despite its global public health impact, limited progress has been made to identify and characterize immunodominant B. microti antigens for diagnostic and vaccine use. Using genome-wide immunoscreening, we identified 56 B. microti antigens, including some previously uncharacterized antigens. Thirty of the most immunodominant B. microti antigens were expressed as recombinant proteins in E. coli. Among these, the combined use of two novel antigens and one previously described antigen provided 96% sensitivity and 100% specificity in identifying B. microti antibody containing sera in an

SUBMITTER: Verma N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7293334 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature