6533b852fe1ef96bd12ab82f
RESEARCH PRODUCT
African trypanosomes expressing multiple VSGs are rapidly eliminated by the host immune system
Luisa M. FigueiredoMargarida Sanches-vazFabio BentoFabio BentoFrancisco Aresta-brancoJoão A. Rodriguessubject
Trypanosoma brucei bruceiParasitemiaBiologyTrypanosoma bruceiParasitemiaMicrobiologyHost-Parasite InteractionsMice03 medical and health sciencesImmune systemRAG2HMGB Proteinsparasitic diseasesmedicineAnimalsTrypanosoma brucei030304 developmental biologychemistry.chemical_classification0303 health sciencesMultidisciplinarymonoallelic expressionTDP1030306 microbiologyBiological Sciencesbiology.organism_classificationAcquired immune systemmedicine.diseaseAntigenic VariationVirologyadaptive immune response3. Good healthChromatinTrypanosomiasis AfricanPNAS PluschemistryImmune SystemGlycoproteinTrypanosomiasisVariant Surface Glycoproteins Trypanosomavariant surface glycoproteindescription
Significance Many parasites escape the host immune system by undergoing antigenic variation, a process in which surface antigens are regularly shed and replaced by new ones. Trypanosoma brucei employs multiple sophisticated molecular mechanisms to ensure the expression of a homogeneous VSG coat. We generated a mutant parasite that expresses multiple distinct VSGs and studied the consequences of having a multi-VSG coat during an infection. We showed that expression of multiple VSGs makes the parasites more vulnerable to the immune response, which can now control the trypanosomes from the onset of the infection, allowing most mice to survive. In the future, trypanosome infections may be treated using drugs that generate parasites with multi-VSG coats.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-09-27 | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |