Lysis of Trypanosoma brucei by a toxic subspecies of human high density lipoprotein.

Trypanosoma brucei brucei is an important pathogen of domestic cattle in sub-Saharan Africa and is closely related to the human sleeping sickness parasites, Trypanosoma brucei gambiense and Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense. However, T. b. brucei is non-infectious to humans. The restriction of the host range of T. b. brucei results from the sensitivity of the parasite to lysis by toxic human high density lipoproteins (HDL) (Rifkin, M. R. (1978) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 75, 3450-3454). We show in this report that trypanosome lytic activity is not a universal feature of all human HDL particles but rather that it is associated with a minor subclass of HDL. We have purified the lytic activity about 8,000-fold and have identified and characterized the subspecies of HDL responsible for trypanosome lysis. This class of HDL has a relative molecular weight of 490,000, a buoyant density of 1.21-1.24 g/ml, and a particle diameter of 150-210 A. It contains apolipoproteins AI, AII, CI, CII, and CIII, and monoclonal antibodies against apo-AI and apo-AII inhibit trypanocidal activity. In addition to these common apolipoproteins, the particles also contain at least three unique proteins, as measured by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under nonreducing conditions. Treatment of the particles with dithiothreitol resulted in the disappearance of two of the proteins and abolished trypanocidal activity. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis showed that these proteins were a disulfide-linked trimer of 45,000, 36,000, and 13,500-Da polypeptides and dimers of the 36,000- and 13,500-Da polypeptides or of 65,000- and 8,500-Da polypeptides. Studies on the lysis of T. b. brucei by the purified particle suggest that the lytic pathway may involve the uptake of the trypanocidal subspecies of HDL by endocytosis.