Cytokines, nitric oxide, heat shock proteins and virulence in Toxoplasma.
Elucidating the factors that play important roles in the expression of virulence by parasites is crucial to understanding disease pathogenesis and to developing control strategies rationally. Here, Kate Miller, Nick Smith and Alan Johnson, using Toxoplasma gondii as a model, argue that the interactions between the immune system and 70 kDa heat shock proteins of apicomplexan parasites profoundly influence parasite virulence.
Miller
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CM
Molecular Parasitology Unit, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Technology, Sydney, Westbourne Street, Gore Hill, New South Wales, Australia 2065. catherine.miller@uts.edu.au
Smith
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NC
Johnson
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AM
D000818:Animals; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism*; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D006801:Humans; D008264:Macrophages / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014123:Toxoplasmosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000469:parasitology; D014774:Virulence
D016207:Cytokines; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; D009569:Nitric Oxide