Bovine babesiosis: Anti-erythrocyte antibodies purification from the sera of naturally infected cattle

Babesia bigemina and Babesia bovis are intra-erythrocytic protozoan parasites transmitted by ticks to cattle in which they induce babesiosis, a disease that resembles human malaria. Anemia, caused by the destruction of non-infected erythrocytes, is a critical feature of the disease. Anti-erythrocyte antibodies could be one of the explanations for such destruction. These antibodies are found in the sera of dogs and mice respectively infected with B. gibsoni and B. rodhaini. However, data concerning the presence of anti-erythrocyte antibodies in the sera of infected cattle are not conclusive. In the present study, we made an attempt to detect anti-erythrocyte antibodies from the sera of cattle naturally infected with B. bigemina. Erythrocytes from a non-infected calf were used in ELISA reaction for the detection of antibodies from samples. Results confirmed the presence of anti-erythrocytes antibodies in higher amounts in the serum of infected cattle. In order to correlate this increment with the parasite, anti-erythrocyte antibodies from the sera from infected calves were purified, coupled to a Sepharose-4B column and than used for anti-idiotypic antibodies purification. These antibodies were found to react with the parasites, suggesting a correlation between both anti-parasite and anti-erythrocyte antibodies.