New Molecules inBabesia gibsoni and Their Application for Diagnosis, Vaccine Development, and Drug Discovery

Abstract

Babesia gibsoni is an intraerythrocytic apicomplexan parasite that causes piroplasmosis in dogs. B. gibsoni infection is characterized clinically by fever, regenerative anemia, splenomegaly, and sometimes death. Since no vaccine is available, rapid and accurate diagnosis and prompt treatment of infected animals are required to control this disease. Over the past decade, several candidate molecules have been identified using biomolecular techniques in the authors' laboratory for the development of a serodiagnostic method, vaccine, and drug for B. gibsoni. This review article describes newly identified candidate molecules and their applications for diagnosis, vaccine production, and drug development of B. gibsoni.

Evaluation of Babesia gibsoni GPI-anchored Protein 47 (BgGPI47-WH) as a Potential Diagnostic Antigen by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay

“…BgTRAP has been reported as a good candidate antigen for serological diagnosis by indirect ELISA (23), but it is difficult to express and has a low sensitivity, suggesting the urgency for developing more prospective antigens (23, 24). Researchers have identified many surface proteins in a cDNA library and confirmed most of them as important candidates for developing a diagnostic method to control B. gibsoni infection in dogs (25). In the present study, we established a feasible ELISA method with rBgGPI47-WH, which was able to differentiate clinically canine samples infected with B. canine, T. gondii, S. stercoralis , RABV, Dog hydatid, and CPV, with no cross reaction observed between rBgGPI47-WH and the positive serum of the above six antigens.…”

Two Imported Cases of Babesiosis with Complication or Co-Infection with Lyme Disease in Republic of Korea

“…In Korea, several imported cases of babesiosis and severe coinfection with malaria have been reported [24,25]. However, this is the first report of co-infection of B. microti and Lyme disease detected in Korea.…”

Evaluation of the inhibitory effects of drugs on the growth of Babesia gibsoni using relative quantification real-time PCR

“…Human babesiosis is also global problem, and presenting a significant health burden in areas where it is endemic (Tonnetti et al, 2019). Babesia gibsoni infection occurs frequently in dogs and has recently become a serious problem because this disease typically results in severe clinical problems (fever, thrombocytopenia, regenerative anemia, splenomegaly, and sometimes death) and recurrent infections even after treatment with antibabesia drugs (Goo & Xuan, 2014). Several antibabesia drugs have been in use for many years, such as diminazene aceturate, imidocarb dipropionate, artesunate, atovaquone, and atovaquone with azithromycin (Goo et al, 2010;Checa et al, 2017;Tuvshintulga et al, 2019).…”