School of Medicine and Health Sciences Poster Presentations
Poster Number
275
Document Type
Poster
Keywords
Schistosomiasis; IPSE; PCR; Diagnostic; Quantitative
Publication Date
Spring 2017
Abstract
Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease affecting between 200-500 million people worldwide. The two species causing most human cases of schistosomiasis are Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma haematobium. The gold standard for diagnosis is parasitological detection of parasite eggs in stool using the Kato-Katz method. Counting eggs shed in stool is labor-intensive and inaccurate. Interleukin-4- inducing principle from Schistosoma mansoni eggs (IPSE) is the most abundant secreted protein from schistosome eggs. We hypothesized that the mRNA transcripts of the IPSE protein may be found in the liver tissue and stool of experimentally infected animals, and that these transcripts can be specifically targeted as a molecular diagnostic for schistosomiasis in endemic areas. Liver tissue and stool samples were collected from S. mansoni infected mice. PCR amplification of IPSE mRNA from liver samples was correlated with positive controls from serial dilutions of a known concentration of pure S. mansoni egg RNA. Concentration of sample’s RNA was then compared to egg counts from stool samples. Results showed a positive correlation between increasing concentrations of IPSE RNA in infected liver tissue and increasing number of eggs found in stool. Our next steps are to repeat this experiment using Schistosoma haematobium infected hamsters, and to further develop the assay as a field diagnostic, correlate IPSE mRNA transcript levels in stool with stool egg counts.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Open Access
1
Included in
Genetics and Genomics Commons, Parasitic Diseases Commons, Parasitology Commons, Tropical Medicine Commons
Development of an interleukin-4-inducing principle from Schistosoma mansoni eggs (IPSE)-specific PCR assay as a quantitative predictor of schistosomiasis-associated morbidity
Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease affecting between 200-500 million people worldwide. The two species causing most human cases of schistosomiasis are Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma haematobium. The gold standard for diagnosis is parasitological detection of parasite eggs in stool using the Kato-Katz method. Counting eggs shed in stool is labor-intensive and inaccurate. Interleukin-4- inducing principle from Schistosoma mansoni eggs (IPSE) is the most abundant secreted protein from schistosome eggs. We hypothesized that the mRNA transcripts of the IPSE protein may be found in the liver tissue and stool of experimentally infected animals, and that these transcripts can be specifically targeted as a molecular diagnostic for schistosomiasis in endemic areas. Liver tissue and stool samples were collected from S. mansoni infected mice. PCR amplification of IPSE mRNA from liver samples was correlated with positive controls from serial dilutions of a known concentration of pure S. mansoni egg RNA. Concentration of sample’s RNA was then compared to egg counts from stool samples. Results showed a positive correlation between increasing concentrations of IPSE RNA in infected liver tissue and increasing number of eggs found in stool. Our next steps are to repeat this experiment using Schistosoma haematobium infected hamsters, and to further develop the assay as a field diagnostic, correlate IPSE mRNA transcript levels in stool with stool egg counts.
Comments
Poster presented at GW Annual Research Days 2017.