Studies on the anti-schistosomal synthetic peptide vaccine: Prediction and synthesis of antigenic peptides of Schistosoma paramyosin

Schistosomiasis is a debilitating parasitic disease affecting more than 200 million people throughout the world and is responsible for 800,000 deaths per yeas according to recent estimations of the World Health Organization [1]. The disease, which causes major liver damage in humans and is potentially fatal if untreated, results from infection by one of three major schistosome species. Schistosoma mansoni, Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma japonicum. The three parasites differ in a number of characteristics including morphology and pathogenicity, as well as in their geographical distribution. Schistosoma mansoni is the most widespread, occurring in Africa, the Middle East and South America. Schistosoma haematobium is present in African and some Middle-Eastern countries, while Schistosoma japonicium is found in Asia, particularly China and the Philippines [2]. It is necessary to study an effective vaccine inducing significant levels of protection against the invasive stage of the parasite. It is very important to seek effective antigenic peptides from various protective antigens of schistosomes. Paramyosin, a 97kDa polypeptide, is an effective antigen candidate with 60% to 77% protection in mouse, the highest protection among known candidate antigens [3-6]. The antigenic peptides of 97kDa paramyosins of Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma japonicum have been predicted and synthesized and their antigenicities have been determined by Dot-ELISA method.