Structure and antigenicity of the lipophosphoglycan from Leishmania major amastigotes

The lipophosphoglycan (LPG) of the intracellular amastigote form of the protozoan parasite Leishmania major is chemically distinct from the LPG on the surface of the extracellular promastigote form. Amastigote LPG is composed of the monosaccharides galactose, glucose, mannose, glucosamine and inositol in the molar ratio 51:30:24:1:1; arabinose is absent. The lipid anchor comprises four alkylglycerols, with alkyl chain lengths 24:0, 22:0, 20:0 and 26:0 in the molar ratio 68:18:8:6. Phosphate is present at 4% w/w of total carbohydrate. HPLC gel permeation reveals LPG to be a polydisperse family of molecules Mr 100-6 kDa. The results from immunological studies with LPG-directed antibodies are consistent with amastigote LPG having the expected tripartite structure of GPI-anchor, a core glycan and the phosphorylated disaccharide repeat backbone. Human sera from L. major patients bound amastigote LPG in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.