Identification of Trichomonas vaginalis alpha-actinin as the most common immunogen recognized by sera of women exposed to the parasite

Abstract

A study on presence of antibodies to Trichomonis vaginalis in serum was done on a group of 500 pregnant, asymptomatic Angolan women. A serologic screening, done by ELISA, revealed that 41% of the women had IgG and IgM against the parasite. Analysis of sera by immunoblotting revealed that 94.4% of sera with anti-T. vaginalis IgG class antibodies were reactive against a common immunogenic protein of 115 kDa. The common immunogen was identified as the protozoan alpha-actinin. All sera recognizing the 115-kDa antigen were reactive against both native and recombinant T. vaginalis alpha-actinin and nonreactive against human alpha-actinin. The findings presented in this work offer a new tool for epidemiologic studies and open new perspectives for vaccination.