Schistosoma mansoni and
host-parasite interactions

Contents

• General introduction
  • Schistosomiasis
  • Host-parasite interactions
  • Thesis outline/scope
  
  
• The proteome of the insoluble Schistosoma mansoni eggshell skeleton
  • Introduction
  • Materials and methods
    • Isolation of eggs
    • Purification of eggshells
    • Trypsin digestion
    • HPLC and MS
    • Database searching
    • Criteria for protein identification
    • Scanning electron micrography with immunogold nanoparticle labeling
    • Western blots
    • Monosaccharide composition analysis
    • Amino acid analysis of eggshell fragments
  • Results
    • Purification of the eggshells
    • Analysis of the eggshell proteome
    • Analysis of eggshell glycoconjugates
    • Analysis of the eggshell amino acid composition
    • Immune reactivity of the eggshell proteins
  • Discussion
  
  
• Schistosoma mansoni: The egg, biosynthesis of the shell and interaction with the host
  • Introduction
    • Production of the Schistosoma egg
  • Structure of the eggshell
    • Cross-linking and tyrosinase activity
    • Specific eggshell proteins
    • Non-specific eggshell proteins in the eggshell
    • Amino acid composition of the eggshell and eggshell proteins
    • Glycans
  • Interaction with the host
    • Egg secretion proteins (ESP)
    • Granuloma formation and the eggshell
    • How to get out of the host?
  
  
• Binding of von Willebrand factor and plasma proteins to the eggshell of Schistosoma mansoni
  
  
• Evaluation of molecular and serological methods for diagnosing two cases of neuroschistosomiasis
  • Introduction
  • Materials and Methods
    • Case descriptions
    • DNA isolation and real-time PCR
    • Western blot analysis
    • Serological methods
    • Theory and calculation of serological indices
  • Results
    • Real-time semi-quantitative PCR
    • Serology
  • Discussion
  
  
• The tegumental outer-surface membranes of Schistosoma mansoni are enriched in parasite-specific phospholipid species
  • Introduction
  • Materials and Methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
  
  
• Summarizing discussion
  • Development of parasitism
  • Parasitic helminths
    • Infection and migration
    • Exit of progeny
    • Feeding habits
  • On schistosome eggs and worms
    • Egg-host interactions
    • Worm-host interactions
  • Concluding remarks/future directives
  
  
• References
• Samenvatting
• Acknowledgements
• Curriculum vitae
• List of publications
• Portfolio