Detecção de anticorpos IgY contra proteínas de parasitas e vetores de leishmaniose e malária em Gallus gallus linnaeus

Abstract

Vectors are living organisms capable of transmitting infectious diseases between humans or animals to humans. Some insect vectors feed on blood and ingest microorganisms, such as protozoa, present in the blood of the infected host. Leishmaniasis and malaria are infectious diseases transmitted by sandflies and anopheline vectors, respectively. Female vectors perform blood feeding for egg maturation, and as an evolving mechanism, salivary proteins have been developed to increase blood intake. The proteins present vasodilator and immunomodulatory actions and can be used to monitor vector exposure. The objectives of this work were to review studies on the use of salivary proteins as biomarkers of exposure to leishmaniasis and malaria vectors, to evaluate the humoral response of blood and eggs from experimentally exposed chickens to the bites of Migonemyia migonei, Lutzomyia longipalpis and Anopheles aquasalis, and to determine the production of antibodies in eggs of chickens naturally exposed to sandflies and anophelines. As a result a systematic review compiled with works demonstrating that several hosts produce antibodies against salivary proteins and chickens found in the endemic areas are sentinel animals useful for the analysis of sandflies and anophelines, since they produce highly specific antibodies to these proteins. Experimental work with chickens exposed to controlled repast of anophelines and sand flies showed high IgY anti-saliva antibody rates after the first immunization in both egg and serum. When analyzing the cross-reactivity between insects, low levels of sandflies were detected due to the sharing of salivary proteins between the species, and between anophelines and sandflies did not observe significant levels of response, therefore the antibodies produced are specific for salivary species to arthropods studied. Considering these results, we analyzed 85 eggs from chickens from the Rio Pardo settlement, Presidente Figueiredo-Amazonas, Brazil, in order to test the model produced in the field. In the immunological tests with salivary antigens of Migonemyia migonei and Anopheles aquasalis high levels of IgY antibodies were determined in all branches of the community. After the seroconversion of the chickens to the saliva proteins the humoral responsiveness to Leishmania and Plasmodium proteins was examined, high levels of anti-Plasmodium and anti-Leishmania antibodies were produced. It is suggested that salivary proteins can be used as biomarkers of exposure to parasite vectors and proteins to detect the risk of transmission of leishmaniasis and malaria.