title: Immune Evasion Strategies of Trypanosoma brucei within the Mammalian Host: Progression to Pathogenicity.
abstract: The diseases caused by African trypanosomes (AT) are of both medical and veterinary importance and have adversely influenced the economic development of sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, so far not a single field applicable vaccine exists, and chemotherapy is the only strategy available to treat the disease. These strictly extracellular protozoan parasites are confronted with different arms of the host's immune response (cellular as well as humoral) and via an elaborate and efficient (vector)-parasite-host interplay they have evolved efficient immune escape mechanisms to evade/manipulate the entire host immune response. This is of importance, since these parasites need to survive sufficiently long in their mammalian/vector host in order to complete their life cycle/transmission. Here, we will give an overview of the different mechanisms AT (i.e. T. brucei as a model organism) employ, comprising both tsetse fly saliva and parasite-derived components to modulate host innate immune responses thereby sculpturing an environment that allows survival and development within the mammalian host.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Myeloid Cell Immunology, VIB Inflammation Research Center, Ghent, Belgium; Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Benoît
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stijlemans
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Microbiology, Parasitology and Hygiene (LMPH), University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium; Unit of Veterinary Protozoology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp (ITM), Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Caljon
authors.affiliation: Unit of Veterinary Protozoology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp (ITM) , Antwerp , Belgium.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Den Abbeele
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Myeloid Cell Immunology, VIB Inflammation Research Center, Ghent, Belgium; Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jo A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Van Ginderachter
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium; Department of Structural Biology, VIB, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Magez
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium; Department of Structural Biology, VIB, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Trez
keywords: African trypanosomosis; T. brucei; innate immune response; pathogenicity; tsetse fly