title: Treponema pallidum, the syphilis spirochete: making a living as a stealth pathogen.
abstract: The past two decades have seen a worldwide resurgence in infections caused by Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum, the syphilis spirochete. The well-recognized capacity of the syphilis spirochete for early dissemination and immune evasion has earned it the designation 'the stealth pathogen'. Despite the many hurdles to studying syphilis pathogenesis, most notably the inability to culture and to genetically manipulate T. pallidum, in recent years, considerable progress has been made in elucidating the structural, physiological, and regulatory facets of T. pallidum pathogenicity. In this Review, we integrate this eclectic body of information to garner fresh insights into the highly successful parasitic lifestyles of the syphilis spirochete and related pathogenic treponemes.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics, Genetics and Genomic Science, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, and Immunology, UConn Health, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, Connecticut 06030-3715, USA.
authors.forename: Justin D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Radolf
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, Texas 75390-9048, USA.
authors.forename: Ranjit K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Deka
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, UConn Health, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, Connecticut 06030-3715, USA.
authors.forename: Arvind
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anand
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Šmajs
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, Texas 75390-9048, USA.
authors.forename: Michael V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Norgard
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA.
authors.forename: X Frank
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D057131:Immune Evasion; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013587:Syphilis / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission; D051195:Toll-Like Receptor 2 / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D014210:Treponema pallidum / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D051195:Toll-Like Receptor 2