Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T19:42:34.709Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Characterization of Encephalitozoon hellem (Microspora) isolated from the nasal mucosa of a patient with AIDS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

W. S. Hollister
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London SW7 2AZ
E. U. Canning
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London SW7 2AZ
N. I. Colbourn
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London SW7 2AZ
A. Curry
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory, Withington Hospital, Manchester M20 8LR
C. J. N. Lacey
Affiliation:
Department of Genitourinary Medicine, General Infirmary, Great George Street, Leeds LSI 9N2

Summary

A microsporidium of the genus Encephalitozoon was isolated into culture from the nasal epithelium of a patient with AIDS. It was compared with in vitro isolates of Encephalitozoon cuniculi and the type isolate of Encephalitozoon hellem by SDS–PAGE and by Western blotting with murine antisera raised to E. cuniculi, E. hellem and the nasal isolate, monoclonal antibodies raised to E. cuniculi and sequential sera from the patient. All tests showed similarities between E. hellem and the nasal isolate but differences between these two isolates and E. cuniculi. Minor protein differences between E. hellem and the nasal isolate were not considered sufficient to separate them at the specific level. The new isolate is named the Wainwright isolate of E. hellem. The ultrastructure of the Wainwright isolate in vitro was similar to that of the parasite in vivo but there was a greater tendency for disruption of the parasitophorous vacuoles. The deposition of the electrondense surface coat on the sporogonic stages of E. hellem, as a uniform layer which later thickens, is in contrast to its deposition as broad bands, which later join up, in E. cuniculi. This may be a useful character in distinguishing the species without recourse to analysis of protein profiles.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barker, R. J. (1975). Ultrastructural observations on Encephalitozoon cuniculi Levaditi, Nicolau et Schoen, 1923, from mouse peritoneal macrophages. Folia Parasitologica 22, 19.Google Scholar
Bergquist, N. R., Morfeldt-Mansson, L., Pehrson, P. O., Petrini, B. & Wasserman, J. (1985). Antibody against Encephalitozoon cuniculi in Swedish homosexual men. Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases 16, 389–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bergquist, N. R., Stintzing, G., Smedman, L., Waller, T. & Andersson, T. (1984). Diagnosis of encephalitozoonosis in man by serological tests. British Medical Journal 288, 902.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cali, A., Kotler, D. P. & Orenstein, J. M. (1993). Septata intestinalis N.G., N.SP., an intestinal microsporidian associated with chronic diarrhea and dissemination in AIDS patients. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 40, 101–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Canning, E. U., Curry, A., Lacy, C. J. N. & Fenwick, J. D. (1992). Ultrastructure of Encephalitozoon sp. infecting the conjunctival, corneal and nasal epithelia of a patient with AIDS. European Journal of Protistology 28, 226–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Canning, E. U. & Hollister, W. S. (1991). In vitro and in vivo investigation of human microsporidia. Journal of Protozoology 38, 631–5.Google ScholarPubMed
Canning, E. U. & Hollister, W. S. (1992). Human infections with microsporidia. Reviews in Medical Microbiology 3, 3542.Google Scholar
Canning, E. U. & Lom, J. (1986). The Microsporidia of Vertebrates. London and New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Didier, E. S., Didier, P. J., Friedberg, D. N., Stenson, S. M., Orenstein, J. M., Yee, R. W., Tio, F. O., Davis, R. M., Vossbrinck, C., Millichamp, N. & Shadduck, J. A. (1991 a). Isolation and characterization of a new human microsporidian, Encephalitozoon hellem (n.sp.) from three AIDS patients with keratoconjunctivitis. Journal of Infectious Diseases 163, 617–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Didier, P. J., Orenstein, J. M., Didier, E. S. & Shadduck, J. A. (1991 b). Fine structure of a new human microsporidian Encephalitozoon hellem, in culture. Journal of Protozoology 38, 502–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Didier, E. S., Shadduck, J. A., Didier, P. J., Millichamp, N. & Vossbrinck, C. (1991 c). Studies on ocular microsporidia. Journal of Protozoology 38, 635–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Hollister, W. S. & Canning, E. U. (1987). An enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detection of antibodies to Encephalitozoon cuniculi and its use in determination of infections in man. Parasitology 94, 209–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hollister, W. S., Canning, E. U. & Willcox, A. (1991). Evidence for widespread occurrence of antibodies to Encephalitozoon cuniculi (Microspora) in man indicated by ELISA and other serological tests. Parasitology 102, 3343.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lacey, C. J. N., Clarke, A. M. T., Fraser, P., Metcalfe, T., Bonsor, G. & Curry, A. (1992). Chronic microsporidian infection of the nasal mucosae, sinuses and conjunctivae in HIV disease. Genitourinary Medicine 68, 179–81.Google ScholarPubMed
Maysubayashi, H., Koike, T., Mikata, I., Takei, H. & Hagiwara, S. (1959). A case of Encephalitozoon-like body in man. Archives of Pathology 67, 181–7.Google Scholar
McInnes, E. F. & Stewart, C. G. (1991). The pathology of subclinical infections of Encephalitozoon cuniculi in canine dams producing pups with overt encephalitozoonosis. Journal of the South African Veterinary Association 62, 51–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Metcalfe, T., Doran, R., Rowland, P., Curry, A. & Lacey, C. J. N. (1992). Microsporidial keratoconjunctivitis in a British patient with AIDS. British Journal of Ophthalmology 76, 177–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pakes, S. P., Shadduck, J. A. & Cali, A. (1975). Fine structure of Encephalitozoon cuniculi from rabbits, mice and hamsters. Journal of Protozoology 22, 481–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petri, M. & Schiødt, T. (1966). On the ultrastructure of Nosema cuniculi in the cells of the Yoshida rat ascites sarcoma. Acta Pathologica et Microbiologica Scandinavica 66, 437–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schwartz, D. A., Bryan, R. T., Hewan-Lowe, K. O., Visvesvara, G. S., Weber, R., Cali, A. & Angritt, P. (1992). Disseminated microsporidiosis (Encephalitozoon hellem) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Autopsy evidence for respiratory acquisition. Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 116, 660–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Shadduck, J. A., Bendele, R. & Robinson, G. T. (1978). Isolation of the causative organism of canine encephalitozoonosis. Veterinary Pathology 15, 449–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shadduck, J. A., Didier, E. S., Didier, P. J., Millichamp, N. & Vossbrinck, C. (1991). Studies on ocular microsporidia. Society of Protozoologists 44th Annual Meeting, Abstract No. 78.Google Scholar
Shadduck, J. A. & Greeley, E. (1989). Microsporidia and human infections. Clinical Microbiology Reviews 2, 158–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Singh, M., Kane, G. J., Mackinlay, L., Quaki, I., Yap, E. H., Ho, B. C., Ho, L. C. & Lim, K. C. (1982). Detection of antibodies to Nosema cuniculi (Protozoa: Microsporidia) in human and animal sera by the indirect fluorescent antibody technique. Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health 13, 110–13.Google ScholarPubMed
Terada, S., Reddy, K. R., Jeffers, L. J., Cali, A. & Schiff, E. R. (1987). Microsporidian hepatitis in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Annals of Internal Medicine 107, 61–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (1983). Parasitic Disease Surveillance. Antibody to Encephalitozoon cuniculi in man. Weekly Epidemiological Record, 3–4, 30–2.Google Scholar
Zender, H. O., Arrigoni, E., Eckert, J. & Kapanci, Y. (1989). A case of Encephalitozoon cuniculi peritonitis in a patient with AIDS. American Journal of Clinical Pathology 92, 352–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar