A Schistosoma mansoni adult worm anionic fraction (PIII) has previously
been shown to protect mice against challenge infection and to reduce
pulmonary and hepatic granulomatous hypersensitivity. Serum from
PIII-immunized rabbit was used to screen a lambda gt11 cDNA library from S.
mansoni adult worm in order to identify antigens capable of modulating
granulomatous hypersensitivity. We obtained four clones with 400
(Sm-III.11), 900 (Sm-III.16), 1100 (Sm-III.10) and 1300 (Sm-III.12) bp of
length. All clone-specific antibodies were able to recognize most of the
PIII components. The sequence analysis showed that these clones presented
high homology with S. mansoni paramyosin (Sm-97). These findings ascribe a
new function to this antigen with an important role in modulation of
granulomatous hypersensitivity to S. mansoni eggs.
