title: Ixodes ricinus immunogenic saliva protein, homologue to Amblyomma americanum AV422: Determining its potential for use in tick bite confirmation.
abstract: Tick bites often go unnoticed, so specific reliable tests are needed to confirm them for prompt diagnosis and treatment of tick-borne diseases. One of the promising candidates for developing such a test is AV422, a tick saliva protein that has been conserved across tick genera. In this study, we demonstrate the potential of the AV422 homologue from Ixodes ricinus to be used for tick bite detection for both Prostriata and Metastriata. We expressed recombinant (r) I. ricinus (Ir) AV422 in E. coli and subjected it to Western blot analysis using rat antibodies to saliva proteins of both I. ricinus (Prostriata) and Dermacentor reticulatus (Metastriata) larvae. Our data demonstrate that rIrAV422 specifically bound to antibodies from sera of rats used for both I. ricinus and D. reticulatus larvae feeding, but not to antibodies from control serum, emphasizing its specificity since tick bites were the sole cause of sera reactivity.
authors.affiliation: University of Belgrade, Institute for Medical Research, Centre of Excellence for Food and Vector-Borne Zoonoses, Laboratory for Medical Entomology, Dr Subotića 4, PO Box 102, 11129 Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: darko.mihaljica@imi.bg.ac.rs.
authors.forename: Darko
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mihaljica
authors.affiliation: University of Belgrade, Institute for Medical Research, Department of Immunology, Dr Subotića 4, PO Box 102, 11129 Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: draganac@imi.bg.ac.rs.
authors.forename: Dragana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Marković
authors.affiliation: University of Belgrade, Institute for Medical Research, Centre of Excellence for Food and Vector-Borne Zoonoses, Laboratory for Medical Entomology, Dr Subotića 4, PO Box 102, 11129 Belgrade, Serbia; Texas A&M University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, USA. Electronic address: zradulovic@cvm.tamu.edu.
authors.forename: Željko
authors.initials: Ž
authors.lastname: Radulović
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, USA. Electronic address: amulenga@cvm.tamu.edu.
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mulenga
authors.affiliation: University of Belgrade, Institute for Medical Research, Centre of Excellence for Food and Vector-Borne Zoonoses, Laboratory for Medical Entomology, Dr Subotića 4, PO Box 102, 11129 Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: sanja.cakic@imi.bg.ac.rs.
authors.forename: Sanja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ćakić
authors.affiliation: University of Belgrade, Institute for Medical Research, Centre of Excellence for Food and Vector-Borne Zoonoses, Laboratory for Medical Entomology, Dr Subotića 4, PO Box 102, 11129 Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: ratko.sukara@imi.bg.ac.rs.
authors.forename: Ratko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sukara
authors.affiliation: University of Belgrade, Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, Vojvode Stepe 444a, 11010 Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: jelena.samardzic@imgge.bg.ac.rs.
authors.forename: Jelena
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Samardžić
authors.affiliation: University of Belgrade, Institute for Medical Research, Centre of Excellence for Food and Vector-Borne Zoonoses, Laboratory for Medical Entomology, Dr Subotića 4, PO Box 102, 11129 Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: snezanat@imi.bg.ac.rs.
authors.forename: Snežana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tomanović
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D003429:Cross Reactions; D003870:Dermacentor / Q000276:immunology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D018884:Ixodes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D012471:Salivary Proteins and Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D064927:Tick Bites / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D019476:Insect Proteins; D012471:Salivary Proteins and Peptides
keywords: Exposure to ticks; Ixodes ricinus; Salivary proteins; Tick bite markers