IDENTIFICATION OF PNEUMOCYSTIS ANTIGENS AND USES THEREOF

摘要

Pneumonia due to the fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii is a life-threatening infection that occurs in immunocompromised patients. The inability to culture the organism as well as the lack of a sequenced genome has hindered antigen discovery that could be useful in developing effective vaccines, therapeutic antibodies and diagnostic methods. A method of surface proteomics of Pneumocystis murina that reliably detects surface proteins that are conserved in Pneumocystis jirovecii is described. In particular, eight identified P. murina surface proteins are described, including MeulO, GSC-1, Ght5, Erg6, ATP2, Gas4, and Mfsl. Methods of eliciting immune responses against the identified proteins, generating therapeutic antibodies against the identified proteins, as well as diagnostic methods based on the identified peptides are described.