Cloning of a Hookworm Excretory-Secretory Protein

Yale University, New Haven CT

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION: provided by the candidate): Hookworms are a major global public health problem, infecting over a billion people worldwide. Blood feeding adult hookworms are a leading cause of anemia and malnutrition in developing countries, extracting a particularly devastating toll on children and women of childbearing age. Adult worms secrete numerous factors at the site of attachment in the intestine that are likely to contribute to disease pathogenesis. Accordingly, the initial aims of this project are the molecular cloning, expression, and characterization of AcES-1, a novel excretory-secretory protein which ahs been isolated from the human hookworm Ancylostoma ceylanicum. Using an animal model of hookworm infection the role of AcES-1 in pathogenesis will then be examined using active and passive immunization techniques. Aside from shedding light in the nature of the host-parasite interaction, study of factors such as AcES-1 may ultimately yield novel targets for immunological or pharmacological intervention to reduce the burden of hookworm disease.