Modulation of host cell intracellular Ca2+.
During the course of evolution, protozoan parasites have developed strategies to subvert the immune response of their host in order to multiply, reproduce and survive. One of these inherited strategies is their capacity to modulate the host cell transductional mechanisms in their favor. Alteration of host cells Ca(2-) homeostasis following interaction and/or invasion by protozoan parasites such as Leishmania donovani, Trypanosoma cruzi, Plasmodium falciparum or Entamoeba histolytica has been reported. There is direct evidence that such disturbances are responsible for pathogenesis observed during parasitic infections. This homeostatic imbalance of Ca(2+) in the host cell is an early inducible event whose underlying mechanisms needs further investigation, as discussed here by Martin Olivier.
Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie, 9500, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université Laval, and Département de Microbiologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université Laval, 2705 boulevard Laurier, Ste-Foy, Québec, Canada. MOlivier@VMI.ULaval.CA
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