Recently, National Reference Laboratory for Animal Schistosomiasis of SHVRI preliminarily explored the biological function of SjAnnexin A13 during Schistosoma japonicum reproductive development. Meanwhile, SjAnnexin A13 was also confirmed to be involved in schistosome-host interactions. The related results were published in Veterinary Research .
Background
Schistosomiasis is a zoonotic parasitic disease that is responsible for 1.4–3.3 million disability-adjusted life years annually. The increasing attention to animal schistosomiasis over the past few decades in China has facilitated significant improvements in agricultural practices. National surveillance of schistosomiasis-related morbidity in China has detected no case of S. japonicum infection of livestock from 2017 to 2022. However, vast areas of China are suitable habitats for snails, which serve as intermediate hosts for schistosomes. Southeast Asian countries neighboring China, as well as some developing countries in Africa, are still suffering from severe schistosomiasis. Therefore, the development of vaccines or to explore novel drug targets against schistosomiasis is still necessary on a global basis.
Research Progress
Bioinformatics analysis showed that the expression of SjAnnexin A13 homologs in Schistosoma mansoni was higher in males than in females, and it was mainly enriched in the neurons, neoblasts, muscle, and parenchyma cell clusters. The importance of SjAnnexin A13 during the reproductive development of S. japonicum was discovered using RNA interference assay in mice. The results of immune protection assay showed that recombinant SjANX A13 increased production of immunoglobulin G-specifc antibodies, suggested that SjAnnexin A13 had the potential to be a candidate antigen for anti-schistosomiasis vaccines. Finally, co-culture of S. japonicum with hepatic stellate cells suggests that SjAnnexin A13 may be involved in schistosome-host interactions through the extracellular vesicles, which provides references for the pathogenesis of schistosomiasis.
Bioinformatics analysis of SjAnnexin A13
Funding
This work was supported by grants from the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai, China (no. 20ZR1469300) and the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (No. 31672245).
Prof. Yamei Jin from SHVRI, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences was the corresponding author of this article. PhD student Haoran Zhong and Master's student Ling Hou of Shanxi Agricultural University were the co-first authors. And Prof. Jinming Liu, Zhiqiang Fu, Hao Li, and Ke Lu from SHVRI, Prof. Shaopeng Gu of Shanxi Agricultural University also participate in this study.
（Link to original article：https://veterinaryresearch.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13567-023-01244-z ）
