Reliable determination of hookworm nematode parasite species from dogs can be carried out post-mortem by microscopical examination of the buccal cavity of adult worms isolated from the host small intestine. In order to allow a proper diagnosis of the hookworm infection in a living host, we developed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Using DNA extracted from hookworm eggs and an oligonucleotide set designed on the basis of the DNA sequence of a cysteine proteinase AcCP1 gene, Ancylostoma caninum and Uncinaria stenocephala DNA can be discriminated from each other.
The humoral response in hamsters following vaccination against Ancylostoma ceylanicum infections with DNA construct was investigated. Groups of hamsters were injected intramuscularly with plasmid pcDNA 3.1, containing cDNA of ACEY-1 cysteine proteinase. Vaccination resulted in IgG antibody response to somatic extracts of adult A. ceylanicum. The highest level of antibodies was observed seven weeks after vaccination.
The potential tertiary structure of Ancylostoma ceylanicum cysteine proteinase was obtained by Automatic Program 3D-JIGSAW and used for finding homologues of known structure by VAST program. The results of computational analysis showed the presence of domains recognizing host immunoglobulins. Based on this analysis we suggest that this protein is involved in cleaving of host antibodies and therefore it may be promising vaccine candidate. In this paper we present the computational analysis of parasitic antigen which is very helpful in evaluation of the potential role of this protein.
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