Mechanism of the Passage of Angiostrongylus cantonensis Across the Final Host Blood-Brain Barrier Using the Next-Generation Sequencing

Yue  Guo; Hai Yan  Dong; Hong Chang  Zhou; Zhong Shan  Zhang; Yu  Zhao; Yu Jie Zhang

doi:10.18502/ijpa.v16i3.7099

Yue Guo School of Medicine, Huzhou University, Huzhou Cent Hosp, Zhejiang, China
Hai Yan Dong School of Medicine, Huzhou University, Huzhou Cent Hosp, Zhejiang, China
Hong Chang Zhou School of Medicine, Huzhou University, Huzhou Cent Hosp, Zhejiang, China
Zhong Shan Zhang School of Medicine, Huzhou University, Huzhou Cent Hosp, Zhejiang, China
Yu Zhao School of Medicine, Huzhou University, Huzhou Cent Hosp, Zhejiang, China
Yu Jie Zhang School of Medicine, Huzhou University, Huzhou Cent Hosp, Zhejiang, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/ijpa.v16i3.7099

Keywords: Angiostrongylus cantonen-sis; Transcriptional se-quencing; The fourth stage lar-vae; Adult stage

Abstract

Background: Multicellular parasites Angiostrogylus cantonensis larvae develop in the final host rat brain at the fourth stage (L4) and migrate to the lungs by the adult stage. The potential mechanism of its blood-brain barrier (BBB) passage remains unclear.

Methods: By using Illumina Hiseq/Miseq sequencing, we obtained the transcriptomes of 3 groups of adult males and 3 groups of female of A. cantonensis to generate similarly expressed genes (SEGs) between 2 genders at the adult stage. Next 2 groups of L4 expressed genes were used to compared with SEGs to create differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between 2 life stages to unlock potential mechanism of BBB passage.

Results: In total, we obtained 381 581 802 clean reads and 56 990 699 010 clean bases. Of these, 331 803 unigenes and 482 056 transcripts were successfully annotated. A total of 3 166 DEGs between L4 and adults SEGs were detected. Annotation of these DEGs showed 167 were down-regulated and 181 were up-regulated. Pathway analysis exhibited that calcium signaling pathway, the ECM−receptor interaction, focal adhesion, and cysteine and methionine metabolism were highly associated with DEGs. The function of these pathways might be related to BBB traversal, as well as neuro-regulation, interactions between parasite and host, environmental adaption.

Conclusion: This study expanded the regulatory characteristics of the two important life stages of A. cantonensis. This information may provide a better appreciation of the biological features of the stages of the parasitic A. cantonensis.