Laboratory of Immunology and Molecular Research
Head of the Laboratory,
Candidate of Biological Sciences
Irina Mikhailovna Odoevskaya
The Laboratory was organized in 1953 and works in the following areas: studying the composition of mineral elements and their quantitative content in helminths; study of the amino acid composition of proteins, and anaerobic and aerobic fermentation pathways in helminths; study of physicochemical and antigenic properties of active proteins of helminths; identifying and cloning genes of parasites’ diagnostic and protective proteins; creation of genetically engineered constructs that provide high expression of antigens, and creation of diagnosticums and recombinant vaccines. Some intraspecific and interspecific differences were revealed in the composition of mineral elements and their amount in helminths, as well as the role of zinc in protein synthesis during intensive antibody formation in pruned animals.
The amino acid composition of proteins and the presence of free amino acids in helminth tissues have been investigated. The features of polysaccharides from helminths have been studied, which are antigenic polysaccharide complexes with a predominance of the carbohydrate component. A peculiar way of fermentation in helminths was revealed, that leads to formation of fatty acids from carbohydrates, metabolic links, that are vital for helminths and absent in the host. The effect of anthelmintic drugs on enzymes of the parasite and the host was studied.
A biochemical model has been proposed for the preliminary selection of anthelmintic drugs by their effect on helminth enzymes. Methods for purification of antigens of Trichinella, Echinococcus, Fasciola, Toxocara, Ascaris and other pathogens of parasites have been developed. Methods for the diagnosis of parasitosis have been developed by studying hybrid and genetic engineering technologies.
A biological preparation based on recombinant antigens has been created for immunodiagnostics and immunoprophylaxis of larval cestodiasis in animals and humans.
As a result of genetic testing of closely related protozoa (toxoplasma, neospores and sarcocysts), amplification test systems have been developed based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the diagnosis of neosporosis and toxoplasmosis in livestock and domestic animals.
An amplification test system based on PCR - Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms for taxonomic differentiation of parasites has been developed. Genomic testing of Echinococcus isolates in Russia has been conducted.
The laboratory develops the biological foundations of pathogenesis, immunity and allergy in parasitosis.
Immunogenesis in a number of helminthiases, the antigenic structure of helminths, the host's immune response to invasive antigens and the possibility of their use for life-time diagnosis of parasitic zoonoses were studied.
A fundamentally new approach to production of vaccines against helminthiases in animals has been developed, which is a conjugate of an immunoamplifier with protein antigens of helminths.
On its basis, a polyvalent, conjugated antigen-polymeric vaccine N-polivac against cystic hydatid disease, dictyocaulosis and fascioliasis of animals was created. A new direction in helminthology, immunotherapy in helminthiasis, is scientifically substantiated.
Methods have been developed for creating immunocorrection drugs, which are based on the covalent compound of an anthelmintic, an immunostimulator and a prolongator. Preclinical studies are being conducted to determine the immunotactic and allergenic properties of new antiparasitic drugs.