1. Host protein EPCAM interacting with EtMIC8-EGF is essential for attachment and invasion of Eimeria tenella in chickens.
- Author
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Sun L, Li C, Zhao N, Wang B, Li H, Wang H, Zhang X, and Zhao X
- Subjects
- Animals, Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule metabolism, Chickens, Protozoan Proteins, Epidermal Growth Factor metabolism, Recombinant Proteins, Sporozoites metabolism, Eimeria tenella chemistry, Eimeria tenella metabolism, Coccidiosis veterinary, Coccidiosis parasitology, Poultry Diseases parasitology
- Abstract
The five epidermal growth factor-like domains (EGF) of Eimeria tenella microneme protein 8 (EtMIC8) (EtMIC8-EGF) plays a vital role in host cell attachment and invasion. These processes require interactions between parasite proteins and receptors on the surface of host cells. In this study, five chicken membrane proteins potentially interacting with EtMIC8-EGF were identified using the GST pull-down assay and mass spectrometry analysis, and only chicken (Gallus gallus) epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EPCAM) could bind to EtMIC8-EGF. EPCAM-specific antibody and recombinant EPCAM protein (rEPCAM) inhibited the EtMIC8-EGF binding to host cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, the rEPCAM protein showed a binding activity to sporozoites in vitro, and a significant reduction of E. tenella invasion in DF-1 cells was further observed after pre-incubation of sporozoites with rEPCAM. The specific anti-EPCAM antibody further significantly decreased weight loss, lesion score and oocyst output during E. tenella infection, displaying partial inhibition of E. tenella infection. These results indicate that chicken EPCAM is an important EtMIC8-interacting host protein involved in E. tenella-host cell adhesion and invasion. The findings will contribute to a better understanding of the role of adhesion-associated microneme proteins in E. tenella., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2024
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