| Summary: | Background & objectives: Trypanosoma lewisi is a common, flagellated parasite of the rat. Ourprevious study showed that rabbits injected with serum collected from rats infected with Trypanosomalewisi and treated with cyclophosphamide (CyI) produced high levels of antibodies against a newprotein in the CyI rat serum.Results: In the present study, this protein was characterised as α2 macroglobulin (α2M) and thekinetics of its production and its influence on the malignancy of the disease were determined. In ratsinfected with T. lewisi, α2M was first demonstrated and peaked on the second day post-infection(972 μg/ml) and then reduced gradually, reaching a level of 32 μg/ml on the eighth day post-infection.However, in the CyI rats the level of α2M was gradually increased as the disease progressed,reaching a level of 890 μg/ml on the eighth day post-infection. Injection of both crude and purifiedα2M into rats infected with T. lewisi led to increased parasitaemia.Interpretation & conclusion: The present study suggests that increased levels of α2M in the CyI ratscontribute to the malignancy of the disease.
|
|---|
