Abstract
Antigenic fractions of 100, 50, 37, and 28 kDa obtained through the SDS-PAGE method that were more frequently recognized by anti-Coccidioides antibodies in the sera of coccidioidomycosis patients were selected using western blotting. Subsequently, these bands were sequenced, and the obtained proteins were analysed by BLAST to choose peptides specific for Coccidioides spp. from among the shared aligned sequences of related fungi. A peptide specific for C. immitis was selected from the “GPI anchored serine-threonine rich protein OS C. immitis”, while from the “uncharacterized protein of C. immitis”, we selected a peptide for C. immitis and C. posadasii. These proteins arose from the 100 kDa antigenic fraction. From the protein “fatty acid amide hydrolase 1 of C. posadasii” that was identified from the 50 kDa antigenic fraction, a peptide was selected that recognized C. immitis and C. posadasii. In addition, the analysis of all the peptides (353) of each of the assembled proteins showed that only 35 had 100% identity with proteins of C. immitis and C. posadasii, one had 100% identity with only C. immitis, and one had 100% identity with only C. posadasii. These peptides can be used as diagnostic reagents, vaccines, and antifungals.
Highlights
Coccidioidomycosis or San Joaquin valley fever is a disease caused by fungi of the genusCoccidioides, in which two species with almost identical phenotypes, C. immitis and C. posadasii, are recognized [1]
The immunodiffusion-complement fixation (IDCF) sensitivity is 77%, while the immunodiffusion-tube precipitation (IDTP) sensitivity is between 75% and 91% [20]
The coccidioidins obtained from the isolates of C. immitis and C. posadasii included in this study revealed showed double double identity identitybands bands(Figure (Figure1)
Summary
Coccidioidomycosis or San Joaquin valley fever is a disease caused by fungi of the genus. The immunodiffusion-complement fixation (IDCF) sensitivity is 77%, while the immunodiffusion-tube precipitation (IDTP) sensitivity is between 75% and 91% [20] These findings led to the production of pure antigens with well-defined physicochemical properties for the diagnosis of coccidioidomycosis, such as the coccidioidal CF and IDCF antigen, corresponding to a chitinase. Due to the disadvantages of cross-immunity, several researchers have oriented their work towards obtaining biomarkers with specificity and immunodominance properties, as in the case of Navalkar et al [28], who applied the immunosignature technique These authors used two peptide types to classify coccidioidomycosis: (1) a peptide set created by tiling four of the most immunodominant proteins of C. immitis to create 83 “epitope peptides” so that these peptides interact with anti-Coccidioides antibodies; and (2) a microarray chip containing 10,000 printed, Molecules 2018, 23, x randomly sequenced peptides, which serve as artificial Coccidioides antigens to randomly interact with patient.
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