XI International Meeting on Paracoccidioidomycosis

XI International Meeting on Paracoccidioidomycosis

Resume:119-1

Poster (Painel)

119-1

CHARACTERIZATION OF Paracoccidioides brasiliensis 54 kDa ENOLASE

Authors:

Caroline Maria Marcos (UNESP - Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Araraquara) ; Julhiany de Fátima Silva (UNESP - Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Araraquara) ; Haroldo César de Oliveira (UNESP - Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Araraquara) ; Maria José Soares Mendes Giannini (UNESP - Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Araraquara) ; Ana Marisa Fusco Almeida (UNESP - Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Araraquara)

Abstract

Paracoccidioidomycosis is a systemic mycosis that affects mainly the rural population of Latin America, and 80% of the cases is registered in Brazil and its agent is the dimorphic fungus Paracoccidioides brasiliensis. The mechanisms and virulence factors of microorganisms are being studied by many researchers and in the case of systemic fungal infections, knowledge of the fungus-host cell interaction could serve to better understanding of pathogenic mechanisms and developing new strategies to limit this fungal infection. In this context, cell surface molecules constitute interesting targets for the interference of the fungus-host interactions through inhibition or blockade of possible virulence factors, which could hinder the host colonization and progress of the infective process. Understanding the interactions between P. brasiliensis with host tissue depends on the study of different steps that underlie the process of colonization, especially adhesion, where the pathogen recognizes ligands on the surface of the host or a constituent of basement membrane, such as fibrinogen, laminin, fibronectin or collagen. This study aimed to verify the role of a protein of 54 kDa, identified as an enolase, in the cell-fungus interaction, assessing their ability to bind in vitro to extracellular matrix components and determine its subcellular localization by ultrascan electron microscopy, since it may be able to provide information to other functions that this protein present. By ELISA, it was revealed that fibronectin is the major ligand of enolase 54 kDa, followed by laminin. It was possible to verify the location of enolase at ultrastructural level, which had distributed in various cellular compartments of P. brasiliensis, but in a high quantity and mostly homogeneous in their cell wall. Thus suggesting that this protein performs additional functions related to that the glycolytic pathway, also playing the role of adhesin in P. brasiliensis. So it was possible to increase knowledge about the characteristics of this 54-kDa enolase and its influence on the binding process of this fungus.਀

Keyword: Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, enolase 54 kDa, adhesion, virulence, immunolocalization

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