Host and tissue specificity of Trichomonas vaginalis is not mediated by its known adhesion proteins

Adhesion of Trichomonas vaginalis is believed to be dependent on four adhes ion proteins, which are thought to bind to vaginal epithelial cells in a sp ecific manner with a ligand-receptor type of interaction. However, the spec ific receptors on the host cell have not yet been identified. In this work, the ability of the T. vaginalis adhesins to bind to cells of different his tologic derivations and from different species has been studied. HeLa, CHO, and Vero cell lines; erythrocytes from different species; and a prokaryote without a cell wall, Mycoplasma hominis, were employed in order to investi gate the cell specificity of the T. vaginalis adhesins. We observed that th e T. vaginalis adhesins are able to bind to the different cell types to the same extent, suggesting; that the host and tissue specificity of T. vagina lis adhesion should not be due to specificity of the parasite adhesins. Our results suggest that the data published to date on the subject are probabl y artifactual and that the experiments reported in the literature are not a ppropriate for identification of protozoan adhesins.