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Innate Antibodies, Murine Models, And Evolution: A Study Of Trypanosome Lytic Factor Functions And Their Translational Applications, Joseph P. Verdi
Innate Antibodies, Murine Models, And Evolution: A Study Of Trypanosome Lytic Factor Functions And Their Translational Applications, Joseph P. Verdi
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Trypanosome lytic factors (TLFs) are primate-specific antimicrobial protein complexes that lyse African trypanosome parasites by delivering the channel-forming toxin APOL1 to the invading microorganisms. Human serum contains two TLFs that are delivered to the parasite by separate mechanisms, only one of which has been characterized. TLF1 is endocytosed by a receptor that is typically blocked by other serum factors in vivo, suggesting that TLF2 is the more relevant lytic factor in the context of trypanosome immunity. TLF2 is non-covalently associated with polyclonal immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies, which we report here to be involved in the uptake mechanism. The TLF2-IgMs …