Entamoeba histolytica: electrophoretic analysis of isolated caps induced by several ligands.

Caps induced by several ligands including sera from patients with amebic liver abscess (ALA) were isolated by differential centrifugation. Purification was verified by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Electrophoretic profiles obtained by SDS-PAGE and Western blots were compared when probed with the ligand used to induce capping. It was confirmed that sera from different patients recognize different proteins. Indeed, electrophoretic profiles reveal that capped membrane proteins vary according to the ligand used to induce capping. This would agree with the supposition that E. histolytica might use this process as a mechanism to evade the host's immune response, by clearing the cell surface from recognized antigens.