Babesiosis: An Emerging Infectious Threat to Transfusion Medicine

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Babesiosis is a zoonosis, a disease communicable from animals to man. The rodent parasite, Babesia microti and the bovine pathogen, Babesia divergens are responsible for most of the human infections that have been reported to date, globally. From a blood safety perspective, transfusion-transmitted infections involving Babesia spp. have become increasingly problematic in the USA, with progressively more reported each year. Therefore the study of this blood-borne parasite should be considered as a priority for transfusion medicine. Our purpose is to understand the invasion process of B. divergens into the human red blood cell (RBC), with the ultimate aim of exploiting parasite molecules found to play key roles in invasion as diagnostic and blood screening tools. The in-vitro system that we use for studying invasion of the human red cell by B. divergens, permits direct exploration of the events associated with parasite invasion of the human RBC, using viable merozoites of B. divergens. Molecules on the surface of the parasite and those secreted by apical organelles function at the host/parasite interface, and we need to identify them and determine their interactions and function, if we are to define the steps in the invasion mechanism and identify new therapeutic targets. We have identified one such putative RBC binding ligand, Bd30 and the focus of our project is the study of its interaction with the RBC, specifically the glycophorins, during parasite invasion. There are three specific aims in this proposal (1) To characterize glycophorin A (GPA) and glycophorin B (GPB) as RBC receptors for B. divergens invasion (2) To validate Bd30 as the B. divergens ligand that binds glycophorin A (GPA) and/or glycophorin B (GPB) and to characterize Bd30 in the parasite and (3) To evaluate the functional significance of the interaction between GPA and/or GPB and Bd17 in merozoite invasion. Methodology that is proposed includes inhibition of invasion assays using specific enzyme treatments of the RBC, mutant cells lacking defined RBC antigens and the use of antibodies and competitor peptides; erythrocyte binding assays using native and recombinant Bd30 ligand protein and antibodies against Bd30 in invasion assays, as well as proposed gene deletion to study its function. Thus, the major goal of the project is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in the entry of B. divergens merozoites into the erythrocyte. It is anticipated that studies detailed in this proposal will result in reagents for diagnosis, epidemiology and treatment and prevention of human babesiosis, and assist in developing products to screen blood products.