Opisthorchis felineus Iso-Seq

Opisthorchis felineus is one of the three most medically important species belonging to the family of fish borne zoonotic trematodes known as Opisthorchiidae. O. felineus is endemic to the river plains of Western Siberia and Eastern Europe and it is estimated that more than 1.6 million people could be infected with these parasites. Chronic opisthorchiasis may lead to severe hepatobiliary morbidity and an elevated risk of cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) which is an aggressive cancer with a 5-year survival rate of 25% when diagnosed at an early stage. O. felineus adult flukes were collected from experimentally infected hamsters and cultured in vitro in serum free media. Identifying and characterizing proteins using transcriptomics and proteomics approaches is more biologically informative and meaningful than using genomics alone. The information from this study will form a biologically relevant dataset of O. felineus proteins that could be used in developing diagnostic and therapeutic tools to manage the human cost of O. felineus infections and its associated diseases.