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Query: UMLS:C0042961 (volvulus)
 4,305 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A recombinant clone, WbN1, isolated from a genomic expression library of Wuchereria bancrofti and showing restricted specificity at the DNA level (Southern and PCR analyses) for Wuchereria bancrofti and Brugia malayi has been previously described. Sequence analysis of WbN1 indicated that it had notable similarity to myosin. Further characterization using in situ hybridization has localized the mRNA in the muscle of the adult parasite and in the microfilariae. Rabbit polyclonal antiserum, raised against the recombinant WbN1 fused to the maltose-binding protein, recognized a 200-kDa polypeptide in immunoblots containing B. malayi antigen extracts. The same antibody also recognized myosin extracted from Brugia pahangi, Onchocerca volvulus, and Caenorhabditis elegans. Localization using the rabbit antiserum revealed the presence of the antigen in the adult muscle tissue and in the microfilariae; the same antibody inhibited the binding of a monoclonal antibody 28.2 (directed toward MHC B of C. elegans myosin) to the recombinant WbN1 antigen and also to purified C. elegans myosin. Based on homology data, structural location, competitive ELISA, and immunoblot we conclude that WbN1 is related to myosin or a similar myofibrillar protein.
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PMID:Characterization of a muscle-associated antigen from Wuchereria bancrofti. 128 97

Onchocerciasis, or river blindness, results from infection with Onchocerca volvulus. The parasite is endemic to West Africa, in both rain forest and savanna bioclimes. Several lines of evidence suggest that different strains of the parasite exist in the rain forest and savanna. Furthermore, epidemiologic evidence indicates that ocular onchocerciasis is most severe in savanna regions. This has led to the hypothesis that there is a strain association with ocular pathology. To test this hypothesis, parasites from villages in which severe and mild onchocerciasis were endemic were classified with two strain-specific DNA probes. A strong correlation (P less than .001) was found between disease severity and probe recognition, supporting the hypothesis that pathogenicity is strain related. The results suggest that pFS-1 and pSS-1BT may be used to predict the pathogenic potential of parasite populations throughout much of West Africa.
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PMID:Onchocerca volvulus DNA probe classification correlates with epidemiologic patterns of blindness. 156 51

The gene encoding a C. elegans homologue of the mammalian reticuloplasmin, calreticulin, was cloned and sequenced and the amino-acid sequence of its product deduced. The coding region of the gene comprises three exons separated by introns of 95 and 55 nucleotides, followed by either 158 or 279 bases of 3' non-coding sequence before putative polyadenylation signals. The precursor protein of 395 residues includes an N-terminal signal sequence of 13 residues. The C-terminus has the ER retention signal HDEL preceded by a polyacidic zone similar to known mammalian calreticulins. The sequence shows a 61% identity with mouse calreticulin, increasing to 82% in the proline-rich region of the molecule. Comparison of the C. elegans sequence with the calreticulin-related antigen RAL-1 of Oncocerca volvulus shows 73% identity, excluding the calreticulin C-terminal region. The sequence of this region differs markedly from RAL-1 where the parasite protein has a polybasic stretch and no ER retention signal. The C. elegans gene described here and designated crt-1 was mapped to a region towards the left-hand end of Chromosome V on the physical map of the genome. Southern blotting of genomic DNA indicates that in C. elegans the calreticulin homologue exists in only one form as the product of a single gene.
DNA Seq 1992
PMID:A C. elegans gene encodes a protein homologous to mammalian calreticulin. 162 27

Genomic DNAs of the related parasitic nematodes Onchocerca volvulus and Dirofilariae immitis, and a cDNA library of O. volvulus, were examined for the presence of the 22-nucleotide spliced leader (SL) found at the 5' ends of 10 to 15% of the mRNAs in the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. As in C. elegans, genes for the SL RNA are linked to the repetitive 5S rRNA genes of O. volvulus and D. immitis, but unlike C. elegans, they are in the same orientation as the 5S rRNA genes within the repeat unit. In O. volvulus the SL sequence is also encoded at more than 30 additional genomic locations and occurs at interior sites within many transcripts. Sequence determinations of four different cDNAs of O. volvulus, each containing an internal copy of the SL within a conserved 25mer, and one corresponding genomic DNA clone indicate that this sequence is not trans spliced onto these RNAs, but is encoded within the genes. The RNAs of two of these cDNAs appear to be developmentally regulated, since they occur in adult O. volvulus but were not detected in the infective L3 stage larvae. In contrast, actin mRNAs are present at all developmental stages, and at least one actin mRNA species contains a trans-spliced 5' SL. The internal locations of the SL in various transcripts and its perfect sequence conservation among parasitic and free-living nematodes argues that it serves specific, and perhaps multiple, functions for these organisms.
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PMID:Many transcribed regions of the Onchocerca volvulus genome contain the spliced leader sequence of Caenorhabditis elegans. 169 60

Although the filarial nematode parasite Onchocerca volvulus is an important human pathogen in large areas of Africa and Latin America, little is known of the molecular interactions that govern the clinical status of patients with this chronic, debilitating disease. As a step toward defining the parasite molecules important to the immunobiology of host-parasite interactions, we have identified and cloned a major surface-associated antigen expressed by O. volvulus microfilariae. Radiolabeling experiments demonstrated that O. volvulus microfilariae have a limited repertoire of peptides at the surface. Prominent among these labeled peptides is an 18-kDa component. Immunological cross-reactivity between a surface-associated component of Dirofilaria immitis microfilariae and the 18-kDa surface-associated molecule from O. volvulus was exploited in a strategy to clone this potentially important O. volvulus microfilarial antigen. The cross-reacting antibodies were used to immunoscreen O. volvulus cDNA expression libraries. One clone, M2f.e, contained an open reading frame of 495 bp encoding an 18.1-kDa protein (OVMS18). Antibodies produced against the expression product of M2f.e recognized an 18-kDa component in extracts of O. volvulus microfilariae and bound to the surface of intact O. volvulus and D. immitis microfilariae. Southern blot analyses showed that M2f.e-like sequences are present in the genomic DNA of a number of filarial nematode species, but not in DNAs from nonfilarial nematode species.
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PMID:Onchocerca volvulus: molecular cloning, primary structure, and expression of a microfilarial surface-associated antigen. 169 77

Recombinant Onchocerca volvulus Ag have been derived from expression libraries and examined for their ability to stimulate PBMC from patients infected with O. volvulus. Ten clones producing recombinant Ag were selected and plaque purified; lysogens were produced and found to express beta-galactosidase fusion proteins ranging in molecular mass from 115 to 138 kDa. When ammonium sulfate-precipitated lysates of these recombinant phage clones were examined for their ability to stimulate PBMC from a patient with onchocerciasis, all 10 recombinants produced stimulation above that to nonrecombinant phage. When individual fusion proteins, affinity purified on anti-beta-galactosidase linked to agarose, were used to stimulate PBMC from patients with onchocerciasis, only one of the recombinant Ag induced PBMC proliferation (stimulation index greater than 4) above that to Ag from nonrecombinant phage. Characterization of the DNA coding for this Ag showed it to be 1.2 kb in length with a small (90 bp) open reading frame; furthermore, it appears to be Onchocerca specific (on genomic dot blots) and single copy. Using overlapping peptides encompassing the entire open reading frame, one T cell epitope has been localized.
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PMID:The identification of an Onchocerca-specific recombinant antigen containing a T cell epitope. 169 1

Immunological cross-reactivity among nematodes has hampered the development of specific serodiagnostic assays for onchocerciasis. In the present study, an Onchocerca volvulus adult worm complementary DNA expression library was differentially screened with human sera from patients infected with O. volvulus and with an omnibus anti-nematode serum pool comprised of sera from patients infected with Brugia malayi, Loa loa, Wuchereria bancrofti, Mansonella perstans, Strongyloides stercoralis, Ancylostoma duodenale, Ascaris lumbricoides, and Dracunculus medinensis. Seven Onchocerca-specific clones were identified and screened with individual onchocerciasis patient sera. Additional studies were performed to characterize the most immunoreactive clones, OC 3.6 and OC 9.3. OC 3.6 produced a 152-kD beta-galactosidase fusion protein that was recognized in dot-immunoblots by 54 of 55 sera from onchocerciasis patients (98%). The OC 3.6 DNA insert is 996 bp long with an open reading frame of 627 bp and a 369-bp untranslated 3' end. OC 3.6 is closely related to a previously reported clone (OV 33-3), but it differs from that clone at both the 5' and 3' ends. OC 9.3 contained a novel 565-bp insert and produced a 138-kD fusion protein that was recognized by 46 of 55 sera from onchocerciasis patients (83%). Additional studies are in progress to develop and evaluate immunodiagnostic tests for onchocerciasis based on measurement of antibodies to these promising recombinant antigens.
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PMID:Molecular cloning and characterization of recombinant parasite antigens for immunodiagnosis of onchocerciasis. 184 Jun 5

Previous studies have demonstrated that the genome of Onchocerca volvulus contains a variable tandemly repeated DNA sequence family with a unit length of 150 bp. The variability of the 150-bp family has been exploited to develop O. volvulus strain and species specific DNA probes. Application of these DNA probes to the study of the epidemiologically most significant life cycle stages of the parasite has been confounded by several obstacles. These include the relative insensitivity of some of the DNA probes and the difficulty in releasing genomic DNA from infective larvae and skin microfilariae in a form that may be directly detected by hybridization to the probes. DNA sequence comparison of 18 known examples of the 150-bp repeat has been used to develop two populations of degenerate oligonucleotides. These oligonucleotides have been shown to support the amplification of the 150-bp repeat family from Onchocerca DNA, using the polymerase chain reaction. Both strain and species specific members of the repeat family are faithfully amplified, allowing characterization of a parasite on the basis of hybridization of the PCR amplification products to the previously developed DNA probes. This method is shown to be applicable to all diagnostically important forms of the parasite, including adults, infective larvae, and skin microfilariae. In addition, the method is capable of detecting O. volvulus infective larvae directly in extracts of blackfly vectors.
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PMID:Onchocerca volvulus: application of the polymerase chain reaction to identification and strain differentiation of the parasite. 191 48

Onchocerciasis (river blindness) is a serious health problem and a severe obstacle to social and economic development, especially in Africa. A complementary DNA fragment coding for an Onchocerca volvulus antigen (OV-16) was cloned and expressed in the plasmid vector pCG808fx. Immune responses to this O. volvulus-specific recombinant antigen were detectable in patients with documented onchocerciasis; the antibody response was also detectable at 3 months and at more than 1 year before infection could otherwise be detected in humans and in chimpanzees experimentally infected with O. volvulus third-stage larvae.
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PMID:An immunogenic Onchocerca volvulus antigen: a specific and early marker of infection. 201 41

Evidence suggests that the helminth antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) may play a role in parasite's defense against the cellular immune mechanisms of the host. In order to investigate this for the human parasite Onchocerca volvulus, the enzyme activity was characterized, the release of SOD by the parasite was examined, and a complete cDNA encoding the O. volvulus SOD was identified. The SOD activity in adult O. volvulus was found to be 8.1 +/- 4.2 U/mg of protein. A Cu/Zn-containing enzyme was demonstrated by its sensitivity towards cyanide, azide, and hydrogen peroxide. Isoelectric focusing, combined with an enzyme activity assay, revealed two activities at pI 6.8 and 7.6, with both activities inhibited by KCN. Adult parasites, maintained in vitro, released SOD into the culture medium, which was detected by enzyme activity. In parallel, lactate production was measured to ensure the viability of the parasite. Oligonucleotides (based upon conserved sequences in the SOD genes of other organisms) and the polymerase chain reaction were used to identify a portion of the SOD gene from O. volvulus genomic DNA. A cDNA library was constructed in lambda unizapII and screened with the genomic polymerase chain reaction fragment. A complete cDNA encoding the Cu/Zn SOD was identified, and its nucleotide sequence was determined. Southern blot hybridization experiments indicated that the Cu/Zn SOD is encoded by a single-copy gene with at least one intron.
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PMID:Characterization and molecular cloning of a Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase from the human parasite Onchocerca volvulus. 203 66


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