title: Involvement of host calpain in the invasion of Cryptosporidium parvum.
abstract: Cryptosporidium parvum induces the formation of an actin-dense plaque which is essential for the successful invasion of epithelial cells. Host molecules that are involved in the regulation of this cytoskeleton reorganization are unknown. Here we identified that calcium-dependent thiol protease calpain is critical for regulating parasite-induced actin polymerization. C. parvum invasion induced activation of calpain. Inhibition of calpain activity by overexpression of the endogenous inhibitor calpastatin diminished the formation of the actin-dense plaque and decreased the initial invasion of parasites. Our data indicates a key role of calpain activity of host cell in C. parvum infection via regulating cytoskeleton reorganization.
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, 200 Westboro Road, North Grafton, MA 01536, USA.
authors.forename: Gregorio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Perez-Cordon
authors.forename: Weijia
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Saul
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tzipori
authors.forename: Hanping
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Feng
mesh_terms: D002154:Calpain / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D003457:Cryptosporidiosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D016785:Cryptosporidium parvum / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D002154:Calpain