Serum Antibodies to Recombinant Pneumocystis Antigens

描述（由申请人提供）：肺孢子虫（Pc）是HIV患者致死性肺炎（P）的主要原因，但由于缺乏合适的试剂，血清流行病学研究受到严重限制。我已经开发了人PC主要表面糖蛋白（Msg）的重组片段（A、B、C），并发现其中之一MsgC在酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）中作为这些研究的抗原显示出相当大的前景。我假设MsgC是PC感染的通用血清学标志物，并且在从PcP（PcP+）恢复的HIV患者中将发现最高水平的抗体。本提案的目的是分析血清抗体反应，以及影响这些反应的宿主因素，在8个不同的国际地点的成年HIV PcP+患者，HIV患者谁从来没有PcP（PcP-），健康献血员的Msg片段。从这些研究中获得的数据将导致PC血清学研究的第一个标准抗原，并加强我们对PC感染的流行病学和免疫学的理解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Pneumocystis (Pc) is a major cause of lethal pneumonia (P) in HIV patients, but seroepidemiological studies have been severely limited by the lack of suitable reagents. I have developed recombinant fragments (A, B,C) of the human PC major surface glycoprotein (Msg) and found that one of them, MsgC, shows considerable promise as an antigen for these studies in an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). I hypothesize that MsgC is a universal serologic marker for PC infection, and that the highest level of antibodies will be found in HIV patients who recovered from PcP (PcP+). The goals of this proposal are to analyze serum antibody responses, as well as the host factors that influence these responses, to the Msg fragments in adult HIV PcP+ patients, HIV patients who never had PcP (PcP-), and healthy blood donors in 8 different international locations. Data obtained from these studies will lead to the first standard antigen for PC serologic studies, and enhance our understanding of the epidemiology and immunology of PC infection.