INTERACTION OF LECTINS WITH CRYPTOSPORIDIUM-PARVUM

Cell surface carbohydrates from four clinical isolates of Cryptosporid ium parvum were analyzed by agglutination assays using a battery of 20 highly purified lectins with affinity for receptor molecules containi ng N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc), N-acetyl-D-galactosamine, galactos e, mannose, glucose, fucose, and N-acetyl-neuraminic acid. Tomentine, a lectin from the green seaweed Codium tomentosum, and UEA-II lectin, from Ulex europeus, both of them GlcNAc-specific lectins, agglutinated the oocysts. Subsequent inhibition assay confirmed the presence of th is sugar on the surface of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts. Codium frag ile lectin, from another green seaweed, also exhibited agglutination a ctivity against the oocysts. This is the first published demonstration of such an interaction between a human coccidian and lectins from sea weeds.