Advances in understanding red blood cell modifications by Babesia

Babesia are tick-borne protozoan parasites that can infect livestock, pets, wildlife animals, and humans. In the mammalian host, they invade and multiply within red blood cells (RBCs). To support their development as obligate intracellular parasites, Babesia export numerous proteins to modify the RB...

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Veröffentlicht in:PLoS pathogens 2022-09, Vol.18 (9), p.e1010770-e1010770
Hauptverfasser: Hakimi, Hassan, Yamagishi, Junya, Kawazu, Shin-ichiro, Asada, Masahito
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Babesia are tick-borne protozoan parasites that can infect livestock, pets, wildlife animals, and humans. In the mammalian host, they invade and multiply within red blood cells (RBCs). To support their development as obligate intracellular parasites, Babesia export numerous proteins to modify the RBC during invasion and development. Such exported proteins are likely important for parasite survival and pathogenicity and thus represent candidate drug or vaccine targets. The availability of complete genome sequences and the establishment of transfection systems for several Babesia species have aided the identification and functional characterization of exported proteins. Here, we review exported Babesia proteins; discuss their functions in the context of immune evasion, cytoadhesion, and nutrient uptake; and highlight possible future topics for research and application in this field.
ISSN:1553-7374
1553-7366
1553-7374
DOI:10.1371/journal.ppat.1010770