ORIGINAL PAPER A gel-free proteomic analysis of Taenia solium and Taenia crassiceps cysticerci vesicular extracts Giovani Carlo Veríssimo da Costa 1 & Regina Helena Saramago Peralta 2 & Dário Eluan Kalume 3 & Ana Larissa Gama Martins Alves 4 & José Mauro Peralta 4 Received: 14 March 2018 /Accepted: 4 September 2018 /Published online: 13 September 2018 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract The taeniasis/cysticercosis complex is a zoonosis caused by the presence of the parasite Taenia solium in humans. It is considered a neglected disease that causes serious public health and economic problems in developing countries. In humans, the most common locations for the larval form are the skeletal muscles, ocular system, and the central nervous system, which is the most clinically important. Several glycoproteins of T. solium and Taenia crassiceps cysticerci have been characterized and studied for their use in the immunodiagnosis of neurocysticercosis and/or the development of synthetic or recombinant vaccines against cysticercosis. The aim of this study was to perform a gel-free shotgun proteomic analysis to identify saline vesicular extract (SVE) proteins of T. solium and T. crassiceps cysticerci. After solubilization of the SVE with and without surfactant reagent and in-solution digestion, the proteins were analyzed by LC–MS/MS. Use of a surfactant resulted in a significantly higher number of proteins that were able to be identified by LC–MS/MS. Novel proteins were identified in T. solium and T. crassiceps SVE. The qualitative analysis revealed a total of 79 proteins in the Taenia species: 29 in T. solium alone, 11 in T. crassiceps alone, and 39 in both. These results are an important contribution to support future investigations and for establishing a Taenia proteomic profile to study candidate biomarkers involved in the diagnosis or pathogenesis of neurocysticercosis. Keywords Taeniasis . Neurocysticercosis . Gel-free proteomics . Glycoproteins Introduction The taeniasis/cysticercosis complex is a zoonosis caused by the presence of the parasite Taenia solium in humans and is considered to be a neglected disease that results in a serious public health and economic burden to developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America (Flisser and Correa 2010; Esquivel-Velazquez et al. 2011b; Del Brutto and García 2015). The adult stage of T. solium develops in the small intestine of humans (taeniasis), producing eggs that are re- leased in the feces. Human cysticercosis is caused by the pres- ence of the larvae of T. solium, which can be acquired by Taenia egg-contaminated water, food, and surfaces (including soil and hands). The most common locations for the larval form are the skeletal muscles, ocular system, and central ner- vous system (CNS). Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is a public health problem in Brazil, with a total of 1829 NCC deaths in 12,491,280 reported deaths between 2000 and 2011 (Martins- Melo et al. 2016). It is very important that the disease is diag- nosed before the stage of evolution to calcification. Computed Handling Editor: Bill Chobotar Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-018-6080-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * José Mauro Peralta peralta@micro.ufrj.br 1 Laboratório de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Tecnológico, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Horácio Macedo, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 1281, Brazil 2 Departamento de Patologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rua Marques do Paraná, Niterói, RJ 303, Brazil 3 Fundação Oswaldo Cruz - Fiocruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Av. Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 4 Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Microbiologia Paulo de Góes, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 373, Brazil Parasitology Research (2018) 117:3781–3790 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-018-6080-7