Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small
membrane-bound vesicles of growing interest in vetetinary
parasitology. The aim of the present
report was to provide the first isolation, quantification and
protein characterization of EVs from
buffalo (
Bubalus bubalis) sera infected with
Theileria spp.
Methods:
Infected
animals were identified through
optical microscopy and
PCR. EVs were isolated from
buffalo sera by size-
exclusion chromatography and characterized using
western blotting analysis,
nanoparticle tracking
analysis and
transmission electron microscopy. Subsequently, the
proteins from isolated vesicles were characterized by
mass spectrometry.
Results:
EVs from
buffalo sera have shown sizes in the 124-140 nm range and 306
proteins were characterized. The
protein-
protein interaction
analysis has evidenced
biological processes and molecular function associated with
signal transduction, binding,
regulation of
metabolic processes, transport, catalytic activity and response to acute stress. Five
proteins have been shown to be differentially expressed between the
control group and that infected with
Theileria spp., all acting in the
oxidative stress pathway.
Conclusions:
EVs from
buffaloes infected with
Theileria spp. were successfully isolated and characterized. This is an advance in the
knowledge of
host-parasite relationship that contributes to the
understanding of host
immune response and
theileriosis evasion mechanisms. These findings may pave the way for searching new EVs candidate-markers for a better
production of safe
biological products derived from
buffaloes.(AU)