title: Immune evasion strategies of pre-erythrocytic malaria parasites.
abstract: Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans. It begins with a bite from an infected female Anopheles mosquito and leads to the development of the pre-erythrocytic and blood stages. Blood-stage infection is the exclusive cause of clinical symptoms of malaria. In contrast, the pre-erythrocytic stage is clinically asymptomatic and could be an excellent target for preventive therapies. Although the robust host immune responses limit the development of the liver stage, malaria parasites have also evolved strategies to suppress host defenses at the pre-erythrocytic stage. This paper reviews the immune evasion strategies of malaria parasites at the pre-erythrocytic stage, which could provide us with potential targets to design prophylactic strategies against malaria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogenic Biology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogenic Biology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China.
authors.forename: Zhangping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogenic Biology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China.
authors.forename: Wenyue
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3681-5052
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles; D001343:Autophagy; D009033:Culicidae; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000469:parasitology; D006801:Humans; D057131:Immune Evasion; D007728:Kupffer Cells / Q000469:parasitology; D008099:Liver / Q000469:parasitology; D008288:Malaria / Q000276:immunology*; D010586:Phagocytes / Q000469:parasitology; D011509:Proteoglycans / Q000737:chemistry; D012867:Skin / Q000469:parasitology; D034101:Sporozoites / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D011509:Proteoglycans