title: Schistosoma hemozoin and its possible roles.
abstract: More than 95years ago Schistosoma pigment had been deemed as a degradation product of haemoglobin. Until the 1950s, scientists initiated to pay attention to understand the hematophagous habit of schistosomes, and to study the degradation of haemoglobin as well as the formation of hemozoin inside the gut of the worms. For a long time, the formation of hemozoin in both Plasmodium and in Schistosoma was considered to be the major route of heme detoxification, and hemozoin served a role in waste disposal. At the beginning of this century, the chemical structure of Schistosoma pigment was confirmed to be identical to that of malarial pigment (hemozoin) and its synthetic analogue, β-hematin. Since then, studies on Schistosoma hemozoin have been investigated by some workers and the results showed that Schistosoma hemozoin may play important roles in pathogenicity, immune modulation, iron supply for egg formation, and interaction with some anti-schistosomal drugs. In this review, we briefly review and discuss the hematophagous habit of schistosomes, degradation of haemoglobin, formation of hemozoin in the worm gut, and possible roles of hemozoin.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology, MOH, WHO Collaborating Centre for Malaria, Schistosomiasis, and Filariasis, Shanghai 200025, China. Electronic address: shxiao4@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Shu-Hua
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Institute for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Development, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200092, China. Electronic address: swksj@tongji.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D006420:Hemeproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D056747:Immunomodulation; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism; D010860:Pigments, Biological / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D012547:Schistosoma / Q000502:physiology*; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D015801:Helminth Proteins; D006420:Hemeproteins; D006454:Hemoglobins; D010860:Pigments, Biological; C020753:hemozoin; D007501:Iron
keywords: Artemether; Degradation of haemoglobin; Hematophagous habit; Hemin; Hemozoin formation; Iron source; Quinolines; Schistosoma