Abstract
Aim: Sporothrix schenckii is the causative agent of sporotrichosis. A 70-kDa glycoprotein, Gp70, is a candidate for the development of prophylactic alternatives to control the disease, and its gene (GP70) is predicted to encode for a protein of 43kDa, contrasting with the molecular weight of the native protein. Materials & methods: The GP70 was expressed in bacteria, the recombinant protein purified, used in immunoassays and injected to Galleria mellonella. Results & conclusion: The recombinant protein was detected by anti-Gp70 antibodies, confirming that the Gp70 backbone is a 43-kDa peptide. This protein showed enzyme activity of cyclase and was recognized by sera of patients with sporotrichosis. Although it was not useful for serodiagnosis of sporotrichosis, it conferred protection to animals against experimental sporotrichosis.
Acknowledgments
We thank LA López-Ramírez (Universidad de Guanajuato), GP Jannuzzi (Universidade de São Paulo), TO dos Santos (Universidade do Estado de Rio de Janeiro) and ARS Baptista (Universidade Federal Fluminense) for technical assistance.
Author contributions
LC García-Carnero, JA Martínez-Álvarez, LM Lopes-Bezerra and HM Mora-Montes designed and conceived the study; LC García-Carnero, JA Martínez-Álvarez, NE Lozoya-Pérez, PH Kubitschek-Barreira, N Curty, JRF de Almeida, JL Belmonte-Vázquez and AJ Gómez-Infante performed the experiments; LC García-Carnero, JA Martínez-Álvarez, NE Lozoya-Pérez, JC Villagómez-Castro, E Peña-Cabrera, SR Almeida, I Martínez-Duncker, LM Lopes-Bezerra and HM Mora-Montes analyzed data; LM Lopes-Bezerra and HM Mora-Montes wrote the paper and LC García-Carnero, JA Martínez-Álvarez, PH Kubitschek-Barreira, NE Lozoya-Pérez, JC Villagómez-Castro, JL Belmonte-Vázquez, JRF de Almeida, AJ Gómez-Infante, N Curty, E Peña-Cabrera, I Martínez-Duncker, SR Almeida, LM Lopes-Bezerra and HM Mora-Montes approved the final version of the manuscript.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
This work was supported by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (ref. PDCPN2014-247109, and FC 2015-02-834), Universidad de Guanajuato (ref. 1025/2016; CIIC 95/2018) and Red Temática Glicociencia en Salud (CONACYT-México). LM Lopes-Bezerra is a research fellow of Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq 307169/2015-4) and Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP 2017/13722-5). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.
Ethical conduct of research
The authors state that The Ethic Committee of the Brazilian Health Ministry (CONEP) approved use of the bank of patient's sera in this study.