title: Specializations in a successful parasite: what makes the bloodstream-form African trypanosome so deadly?
abstract: Most trypanosomatid parasites have both arthropod and mammalian or plant hosts, and the ability to survive and complete a developmental program in each of these very different environments is essential for life cycle progression and hence being a successful pathogen. For African trypanosomes, where the mammalian stage is exclusively extracellular, this presents specific challenges and requires evasion of both the acquired and innate immune systems, together with adaptation to a specific nutritional environment and resistance to mechanical and biochemical stresses. Here we consider the basis for these adaptations, the specific features of the mammalian infective trypanosome that are required to meet these challenges, and how these processes both inform on basic parasite biology and present potential therapeutic targets.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Catarina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gadelha
authors.forename: Jennifer M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Holden
authors.forename: Harriet C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Allison
authors.forename: Mark C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Field
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000940:Antigenic Variation; D004705:Endocytosis; D006801:Humans; D057131:Immune Evasion; D008322:Mammals; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000469:parasitology; D014346:Trypanosoma brucei brucei / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014353:Trypanosomiasis, African / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology; D014370:Tsetse Flies / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology; D014643:Variant Surface Glycoproteins, Trypanosoma / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D014643:Variant Surface Glycoproteins, Trypanosoma; C403774:serum resistance associated protein, Trypanosoma brucei