Cysteine proteinase 30 (CP30) and antibody response to CP30 in serum and vaginal washes of symptomatic and asymptomatic Trichomonas vaginalis-infected women.

Infection with Trichomonas vaginalis may be asymptomatic or with symptoms suggestive of vaginitis. Because cysteine proteinase 30 (CP30) of T. vaginalis is known to be a virulence marker that plays a role in cytoadherence, the aim of this study was to analyse the presence of CP30 and antibody to CP30 in clinical samples of symptomatic and asymptomatic infected women. CP30 was detected in all the serum and vaginal washes (VWs) of symptomatic women and in 65% of the serum and 80% of the VWs of asymptomatic women. This suggested that the majority of asymptomatic women also exhibit CP30 in the serum and VWs. Antibody to CP30 was detected in all the serum samples of symptomatic and asymptomatic women and in the VWs of only 54.5% of the symptomatic and 35% of the asymptomatic women. Antibody to CP30 was also detected in 3/20 of the serum samples and in none of the VWs from uninfected women. Significantly higher amounts of antibody (mean OD values) were observed in serum and VWs of symptomatic as compared to asymptomatic and healthy women (P<0.001). These results indicate that besides CP30, other factors may also be playing a role in leading to symptomatic infection, because CP30 was detected in clinical samples from all the symptomatic and the majority of the asymptomatic women. Although anti-CP30 antibodies do not appear to be protective, detection of antibody to CP30 antigen in serum samples may be used as a diagnostic tool.