International journal for parasitology最新文献

{"title":"A global protein interaction network of Leishmania donovani.","authors":"Amin Azimi, Reza Salavati","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.10.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.10.001","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Leishmania donovani is the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis, a tropical disease affecting millions worldwide. While proteomic studies of Leishmania species have been conducted, the organization of protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks in L. donovani remains largely unexplored. Here, we present a protein interaction network for L. donovani generated through size-exclusion chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (SEC-MS) and computational analysis. We quantified 3,468 proteins with high confidence, of which approximately 70% are conserved across the Tritryps (Trypanosoma brucei, T. cruzi, and L. donovani). The resulting network contains 1,509 nodes and 16,095 interactions, exhibiting scale-free topology and covering key cellular machineries such as the proteasome, ribosome, translation initiation complexes, and BBSome. Remarkably, most annotated Leishmania complexes remained intact within the network, highlighting its high quality. Paralogs within L. donovani frequently interacted with each other, a phenomenon observed at a higher rate than reported in different organisms. Beyond structural organization, the network also provided interaction-based evidence that functionally contextualizes previously uncharacterized or poorly annotated proteins. Complexes involved in mRNA metabolism and flagellar assembly revealed novel components supported by conserved interaction patterns, underscoring the biological utility of the network for functional inference. Our study provides the first experimentally derived, large-scale interaction network specific to L. donovani, offering critical insights into the parasite's molecular architecture. All interaction data are available through our dedicated database at https://2025.trypsnetdb.org.</p>","PeriodicalId":13725,"journal":{"name":"International journal for parasitology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145274445","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Species diversity and within-host tropism for mixed equine strongyle infections using a cytochrome c oxidase subunit I metabarcoding approach.","authors":"Luise Grace Klass, Irina Diekmann, Sandro Andreotti, Susan Mbedi, Sarah Sparman, Thore Schenk, Haley P Anderson, Jennifer Bellaw, Martin K Nielsen, Jürgen Krücken, Georg von Samson-Himmelstjerna","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.09.010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.09.010","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Strongyles, especially non-migratory Strongylidae, are the most common equine gut parasites, and typically occur in mixed infections with 10 - 20 species per host. Current knowledge on strongyle species prevalence and within-host tropism is sparse. Herein species composition of mixed strongyle infections of 12 naturally infected untreated young horses, based on strongyle eggs extracted from faeces, cultured third stage larva and luminal worms collected from ventral and dorsal colon was examined. Species were identified using a cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) metabarcoding approach allowing differentiation of operational taxonomic units (OTU) in small strongyle species complexes. In total, 16 small strongyle and one large strongyle species were identified. Eleven small strongyles were detected in all equines, including three cryptic species: Cylicostephanus calicatus OTU II, Cylicostephanus minutus OTU II and III. Coherence of detection rate, alpha and beta diversity showed high agreeance between data obtained using DNA from faecal eggs and cultured larvae. Diversity, but not observed richness, was higher in eggs and larvae compared to luminal worms (Inverse Simpson index, Shannon index, all P < 0.05). Bray-Curtis and Jaccard dissimilarity showed overlapping beta diversity clusters for eggs and larva, while ventral and dorsal colon samples clustered separately and differed significantly according to PERMANOVA (P < 0.001). Five small strongyle species showed significantly higher occurrence in the ventral than dorsal colon, including cryptic species Cylicostephanus calicatus OTU II. This study provides novel prevalence data for five cryptic species, documents species tropism within intestinal compartments and demonstrates high strongyle species composition agreement between faecal eggs and cultured larvae.</p>","PeriodicalId":13725,"journal":{"name":"International journal for parasitology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145274481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cytochrome c oxidase I deep amplicon sequencing for metabarcoding of equine strongyle communities: unexpectedly high Strongylus spp. prevalence in treated horses.","authors":"Jürgen Krücken, Irina Diekmann, Sandro Andreotti, Christina M Bredtmann, Susan Mbedi, Sarah Sparmann, Jennifer S Schmidt, Fernando de Almeida Borges, Mariana Green de Freitas, Guillaume Sallé, Heribert Hofer, Jacqueline B Matthews, Thomas Tzelos, Martin K Nielsen, Tetiana A Kuzmina, Georg von Samson Himmelstjerna","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.09.007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.09.007","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Equines are parasitized by complex communities of Strongylidae (Nematoda) comprising multi-species infections. Currently, Cyathostominae are most prevalent, while Strongylus species are only rarely detected. Since eggs and, in most cases, infective larvae cannot be differentiated to species level, except for Strongylus spp., species-specific knowledge of the pathology, epidemiology and ecology of these parasitic nematodes is limited. Reference sequence data for several cyathostomin species are limited or missing. Deep amplicon sequencing of internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS-2) regions of nematodes has been used in equines previously, although barcoding studies demonstrated a better species resolution for the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) region. The present study introduces a nemabiome method based on sequencing of COI fragments. This method was applied to compare third stage larvae, representing strongyle communities, derived from regularly treated (RT) and never treated (NT) equine populations from Brazil, France (only RT), Germany, Ukraine, the UK, and the USA. Samples were predominantly from horses, but some were obtained from Przewalski's horses (Ukraine), donkeys (Germany, Ukraine) and kulans (Ukraine). Most sequence reads (87.7%) were identified to species level, but unclassified reads occurred more frequently in donkeys and kulans than horses. No obvious difference in species diversity and richness was observed between RT and NT equines. However, there were significant differences in species composition between the RT and NT groups. Strongylus spp. were more common in NT groups but also showed unexpectedly high abundances in RT horses. Cylicocyclus nassatus, Cylicostephanus longibursatus, and Cyathostomum catinatum were more abundant in RT groups, suggesting that strongyle communities in domestic equines may have been shaped by anthelmintic treatments during last decades. The decreased classification success for reads from non-caballine equines suggests that there are more strongyle species specific for this rarely-investigated group which requires additional efforts to improve the sequence database, particularly for these hosts.</p>","PeriodicalId":13725,"journal":{"name":"International journal for parasitology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145237876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Biased availability of genetic data for parasites: it’s all about the host","authors":"Chen-Hua Li,&nbsp;Robert Poulin","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.05.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.05.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Advances in DNA sequencing technology have significantly increased the availability of publicly accessible genetic data across various parasite taxa. This genetic data is crucial for elucidating gene flow, connectivity among parasite populations, cryptic diversity, and resolving parasite phylogenies. However, phylogenetic reconstructions are often hindered by incomplete genetic data across taxa, particularly in less-studied taxa like parasitic helminths. We tested whether the availability of genetic data for helminth species is biased and influenced by which hosts they infect using the largest known helminth life cycle database. We compared helminth species with genetic sequences in the NCBI Nucleotide and Gene databases against those without publicly available sequences. We examined the impact of the number of definitive hosts, their higher taxon, conservation status, and habitat on genetic data availability. Our findings reveal significant biases in existing genetic data for helminth parasites, influenced by host-related factors. Helminth species with more definitive hosts species, hosts of conservation concerns, and/or those with terrestrial hosts are more likely to have genetic data available. These biases in genetic data availability raise concerns for phylogenetic studies, as they suggest that the current genetic knowledge of helminth parasites is neither random nor representative of existing biodiversity. Consequently, phylogenetic trees based on biased data may not accurately capture the true evolutionary relationships among parasite taxa, as well as trends in the evolution of key traits, such as host specificity. Comprehensive and unbiased data collection efforts are needed to improve the accuracy of phylogenetic analyses and our understanding of parasite evolution.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13725,"journal":{"name":"International journal for parasitology","volume":"55 12","pages":"Pages 657-663"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144208498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Meta-analysis and systematic review of the prevalence and risk factors of Cryptosporidium infection in ruminants in China.","authors":"Wei Wei, Rui Shi, Cheng Peng, Zhengyi Li, Lu An, Jingyi Wen, Rui Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.09.008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.09.008","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cryptosporidiosis, a zoonotic disease caused by Cryptosporidium, is a significant threat to both livestock and human health. In this study, we systematically reviewed the prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection in bovines and ovines in China. We conducted a comprehensive search of six databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP, covering studies published up to May 15, 2025. A total of 276 studies from 31 provinces were included in the meta-analysis. The overall pooled prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection was 17% (95% CI: 15%-19%) in bovines and 12% (95% CI: 8%-15%) in ovines. The most prevalent species were C. parvum (26.87%; 95% CI: 17.69%-37.14%) in bovines and C. xiaoi (26.80%; 95 % CI: 11.81%-45.21%) in ovines, with dairy cattle and goats identified as the highest-risk hosts. Significant risk factors included region, age, host species, presence of diarrhoea, and sampling year. Higher infection rates were observed in Northwestern China, in younger ruminants (<6 months for bovines and <3 months for ovines), in free-ranging ruminants, and in those with diarrhoea. Prevalence was also higher in studies conducted before 2004. These findings provide important epidemiological insights and highlight the need for targeted control strategies that address key risk factors in the Chinese ruminant industry, and underscore the importance of a One Health approach that integrates animal, human, and environmental health.</p>","PeriodicalId":13725,"journal":{"name":"International journal for parasitology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145225320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rediscovery of a name-bearing type of Echinococcus multilocularis (Leuckart, 1863) by museum forensics: a cold case revisited","authors":"Thomas Romig ,&nbsp;Christian Kehlmaier ,&nbsp;Andreas Weck-Heimann ,&nbsp;Sven Mecke ,&nbsp;Anke Dinkel ,&nbsp;Marion Wassermann ,&nbsp;Raffael Ernst","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.05.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.05.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We report on the rediscovery of a presumably lost type specimen of <em>Echinococcus multilocularis</em> (Leuckart, 1863). The study establishes the mitochondrial genome of <em>E. multilocularis</em> from a historical syntype specimen and explores modern genomic techniques to clarify its identity in European populations. Despite initial failure in nested PCR, high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) successfully assembled the mitochondrial genome from post-capture reads, revealing a 13,738 bp sequence. This genome contained 12 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes, and 22 tRNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis placed <em>E. multilocularis</em> in a clade with <em>E. shiquicus</em>. Comparison of mitochondrial sequences confirmed a 100% identity with modern isolates from western-central Europe, demonstrating the persistence of this lineage over 200 years. The study emphasises the value of museum specimens and advanced genomic techniques in historical taxonomy, showcasing the synergy of forensic museum research and modern DNA technologies. This research stabilises the nomenclature of <em>E. multilocularis</em> and therefore contributes to better understanding its epidemiological role in human disease.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13725,"journal":{"name":"International journal for parasitology","volume":"55 12","pages":"Pages 649-655"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144208499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Innovating stomach fluke identification: an integrative approach combining Micro-CT imaging and molecular tools","authors":"Ruben Schols ,&nbsp;Arnaud Henrard ,&nbsp;Jonathan Brecko ,&nbsp;Aspire Mudavanhu ,&nbsp;Emilie Goossens ,&nbsp;Natascha Steffanie ,&nbsp;Sarah Clegg ,&nbsp;Maarten P.M. Vanhove ,&nbsp;Tine Huyse","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.05.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.05.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The rapid loss of biodiversity driven by anthropogenic pressures highlights the urgent need for improved species identification methods. Parasites, vital ecosystem regulators, are being lost at disproportionate rates, with amphistomes—a broadly distributed group of trematode parasites, infecting all major vertebrate groups—facing significant challenges. Many amphistome species remain undescribed, and reference sequences for known species are scarce, partly due to the reliance on labour-intensive identification methods, such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and median sagittal sections. While sagittal sectioning is particularly informative for diagnostic traits, it is destructive, requires toxic chemicals, and demands specialized personnel. In this study, we evaluated micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) imaging as a non-destructive alternative for identifying three amphistome species, <em>Gigantocotyle gigantocotyle</em> (Brandes in Otto, 1896); <em>Carmyerius</em> aff. <em>chabaudi</em> van Strydonck, 1970; and <em>Carmyerius</em> aff. <em>endopapillatus</em> Dollfus, 1962, isolated from the common hippopotamus, <em>Hippopotamus amphibius</em> Linnaeus, 1758. By comparing micro-CT imaging with traditional sectioning, SEM and incorporating molecular barcoding, we reveal the need for a taxonomic revision of <em>Carmyerius</em>, focussed on identifying new diagnostic characters, to better reflect species boundaries. Moreover, the integrated taxonomic effort represented in this work uncovered evidence that <em>C</em>. aff. <em>chabaudi</em> is a new species record from the common hippopotamus. Additionally, we provide high-resolution images of the original type specimens of <em>Carmyerius cruciformis</em> (Leiper, 1910) and <em>G. gigantocotyle</em> and designate new lectotypes and paralectotypes. Our findings demonstrate that micro-CT imaging is a powerful, non-invasive tool for amphistome identification, facilitating access to fragile natural history collections and advancing integrative taxonomy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13725,"journal":{"name":"International journal for parasitology","volume":"55 12","pages":"Pages 615-630"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144132332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Age-associated occurrence of Giardia duodenalis genotypes and subtypes in a birth-cohort of dairy calves in Guangdong, China","authors":"Kangli Feng,&nbsp;Weilong Cai,&nbsp;Yilin Chen,&nbsp;Weijian Wang,&nbsp;Yaqiong Guo,&nbsp;Lihua Xiao,&nbsp;Yaoyu Feng,&nbsp;Na Li","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.06.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.06.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><em>Giardia duodenalis</em> is a common enteric pathogen in humans and animals, with the disease giardiasis being a zoonosis. Currently, little is known about the occurrence and age patterns of <em>G. duodenalis</em> genotypes and subtypes in calves. To examine the infection dynamics of <em>G. duodenalis</em> in dairy calves, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies were conducted using PCR and DNA sequencing tools. In the cross-sectional study, 467 fecal samples were obtained from dairy farms in Guangdong Province, China, and age-associated differences in the infection rate of <em>G. duodenalis</em> were observed. In the longitudinal cohort study, 47 calves on Farm 5 were followed from birth to nine months of age. The shedding of <em>G. duodenalis</em> cysts began on day four, peaked at five weeks of age, and maintained at high levels until three months of age. Most calves continued to excrete low numbers of cysts intermittently after three months. Based on the <em>bg</em> locus, assemblages E (<em>n</em> = 486), A (<em>n</em> = 13), B (<em>n</em> = 5) and D (<em>n</em> = 2) were identified. Overall, there were two infection peaks of assemblage E at 3–13 weeks and 20–23 weeks of age, leading to a cumulative incidence of 100% (47/47) for this dominant assemblage. The average duration of cyst shedding for assemblage E in the cohort study was 4.0 ± 2.1 weeks for the initial infection and 2.1 ± 0.5 weeks for the subsequent one. The intensity of cyst shedding was markedly high during the initial infection but was subsequently lower in the second infection. Within assemblage E, high genetic diversity was observed, with E3 (234/486) and E5 (113/486) being the dominant subtypes. In addition, zoonotic assemblages A and B were predominantly identified in calves during the second peak of infection. Among the assemblage A-positive samples, subtypes A5, A8 and A1 were found at the <em>bg</em>, <em>gdh</em>, and <em>tpi</em> loci, respectively, all belonging to the AI sub-assemblage. This is the first longitudinal study of the natural history of <em>G. duodenalis</em> in dairy calves using genotyping and subtyping tools, and we established a standardized qPCR curve to assess the intensity of <em>G. duodenalis</em> infection. The results provide new perspectives on the complexity and dynamics of <em>G. duodenalis</em> infection in these animals.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13725,"journal":{"name":"International journal for parasitology","volume":"55 12","pages":"Pages 665-672"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144336412","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Defining the minimal enzymatic requirements for fatty acid scavenging from lysophosphatidylcholine by erythrocytic Plasmodium falciparum.","authors":"Jiapeng Liu, Katherine R Fike, Seema Dalal, Christie Dapper, Michael Klemba","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.09.009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.09.009","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Host-derived lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) is a significant source of choline and fatty acids for the intraerythrocytic malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Two lysophospholipases play a dominant role in LPC catabolism: exported lipase 2 (XL2) and exported lipase homolog 4 (XLH4). Loss of these two enzymes greatly reduces, but does not abrogate, the parasite's ability to utilize LPC as a source of fatty acids. In this study, we identify a third enzyme, termed \"prodrug activation and resistance esterase\" (PARE), that mediates low levels of LPC hydrolysis. Loss of PARE alone had no effect on the parasite's ability to scavenge fatty acids from LPC. However, when combined with the loss of XL2 and XLH4, knockdown of PARE impacted the parasite's ability to scavenge both choline and fatty acids from LPC. Furthermore, PARE/XL2/XLH4-deficient parasites were unable to complete a replication cycle when cultured in defined media with LPC as the sole source of exogenous fatty acids. We show that PARE is a membrane-associated enzyme with a substantial presence at the parasite periphery and propose a model whereby PARE catalyzes the hydrolysis of inwardly-diffusing LPC. Our findings reveal that asexual P. falciparum is dependent on parasite-encoded enzymes for LPC catabolism and rule out host erythrocyte enzymes as a physiologically-relevant source of lysophospholipase activity.</p>","PeriodicalId":13725,"journal":{"name":"International journal for parasitology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145225361","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Identification of immunogenic proteins of Ascaris lung stage larvae through immunoproteomics: towards recombinant-based serodiagnostic assays for humans and pigs","authors":"Sara Roose ,&nbsp;Iris Peelaers ,&nbsp;Evy Timmerman ,&nbsp;Johnny Vlaminck ,&nbsp;Delphi Van Haver ,&nbsp;Daniel Dana ,&nbsp;Zeleke Mekonnen ,&nbsp;Simon Devos ,&nbsp;Bruno Levecke ,&nbsp;Peter Geldhof","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.04.017","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.04.017","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil-transmitted helminthiases are recognised by the World Health Organization as one of the 20 neglected tropical diseases, primarily affecting communities with socioeconomic disadvantages in tropical and subtropical regions. Of the four soil-transmitted helminths, <em>Ascaris</em> stands out as the most widespread, affecting more than 700 million people globally. Today, the diagnostic standard for ascariasis is based on microscopic examination of stool, which faces important limitations. Although serological diagnosis is a promising alternative, the current landscape of well-validated commercial serological diagnostics is sobering. An ELISA based on homogenate from <em>Ascaris suum</em> lung stage larvae (AsLungL3-ELISA) showed significant potential to inform human and veterinary prevention and control programs against ascariasis. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the immunogenic proteins in <em>Ascaris</em> lung stage larval homogenate and investigate the antibody response towards recombinantly expressed versions of these proteins. Given the potential of recombinant-based assays for both human and veterinary applications, the study encompasses experiments involving both humans and pigs. First, immuno-affinity purifications were coupled with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, resulting in three lists of immunogenic proteins (for children, adults, and pigs). As a proof of concept, four promising immunogenic proteins (polyprotein ABA-1, paramyosin, apolipophorin and an S60 ribosomal protein) were recombinantly produced in <em>Escherichia coli</em> and the antibody response against these recombinants was evaluated using ELISA. While the results for pigs were inconclusive due to non-specific binding of antibodies, the findings for potential human serodiagnostic applications detecting IgG4 appeared promising. For both polyprotein ABA-1 and paramyosin, a notable difference in OD values was observed between children and adults who were AsLungL3-ELISA negative and positive. In conclusion, this study is a steppingstone towards the development of new serodiagnostic assays and demonstrates that recombinant protein production offers an efficient method to produce diagnostic <em>Ascaris</em> antigens without requiring pig studies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13725,"journal":{"name":"International journal for parasitology","volume":"55 12","pages":"Pages 631-647"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144016380","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}