title: Having a pair: the key to immune evasion for the diploid pathogen Schistosoma japonicum.
abstract: Schistosomes, unlike malaria parasites, are in their diploid stage when targeted by the human immune system. Diploids can be either homozygous or heterozygous. The difference has profound significance for developing immunity and yet has not previously been addressed. We examined the implications of zygosity on immunity to a diploid pathogen, Schistosoma japonicum and showed that the diploid state, and its associated heterozygous advantage, significantly affects the outcome of attack by the immune system and the accumulation of antigenic diversity in the parasite population. We demonstrate here that diploidy provides a novel means of immune evasion for diploid pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Development, Tongji University School of Medicine, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, PR China.
authors.forename: Xindong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Jingjing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Dianne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wellems
authors.forename: Xiaoxing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qing
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: McCutchan
authors.forename: Weiqing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Pan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004171:Diploidy; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D057131:Immune Evasion; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012549:Schistosoma japonicum / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*