Paracoccidioides lutzii: development of therapeutic vaccine from specific antigens for use in a vaccine combined with the P10 peptide from P. brarasiliensis.

Abstract

The dimorphic fungus Paracoccidioides brasiliensis is the etiological agent of paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM). The immunodominant antigen of P. brasiliensis is the glycoprotein gp43, which is recognized by approximately 100% of the sera from patients with PCM, making it an important tool for the diagnosis of disease. P10 is an epitope from gp43, and studies have shown that it can acts as a vaccine against PCM in mice. Recently, a comparative analysis of polymorphisms shared between atypical isolates of P. brasiliensis, suggested the creation of a new species within the genus, the Paracoccidioides lutzii, which in Brazil is endemic to the North and Midwest regions. The fact that P. lutzii isolates belonging to different phylogenetic groups suggests that these approaches to identification of the fungus, and development of serological diagnosis based vaccines only in gp43 and its immunoprotective epitope P10 may not be effective for all isolates. Recently, it was shown that the region corresponding to the P10 from P. brasiliensis in P. lutzii has an important mutation in the core of the peptide that virtually abolishes the protective ability. In this context, this project aims to expand the characterization studies of P. lutzii and identify different targets for use in the development of a therapeutic vaccine