Trypanosoma cruzi mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase triggers polyclonal B-cell activation

It has been proposed that Trypanosoma cruzi, the aetiologic agent of Chagas' disease, produces mitogenic substances responsible for the polyclonal B-cell activation observed during the acute phase of the infection. Isolation and characterization of the molecules involved in the induction of polyclonal activation observed during infectious diseases have posed a great challenge for the immunologist over the last decade. In this work we report that a 33 kD protein obtained from an alkaline fraction of T. cruzi epimastigotes (FI) stimulates proliferation and promotes differentiation into antibody-secreting cells of normal murine B cells in a T-cell independent manner. By flow cytometry we also found that the 33 kDa protein induces an increase in the expression of MHC class II and B7.2 but not B7.1 molecules on the B-cell surface. Sequencing by mass spectrometry identified the T. cruzi 33 kD protein as hypothetical oxidoreductase, a member of the aldo/ketoreductase family. In this report we demonstrate that this protein is also present in the infective bloodstream trypomastigote form of the parasite and was identified as T. cruzi mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase (mMDH) by enzyme activity and by Western blotting using a specific mMDH polyclonal antiserum. The biologic relevance of mMDH-induced polyclonal activation concerning T. cruzi infection is discussed.