Imaging African trypanosomes.
| Autor: | MacLean L; Centre for Immunology and Infection, Department of Biology/Hull York Medical School, University of York, Heslington, York, UK. l.m.maclean@dundee.ac.uk, Myburgh E, Rodgers J, Price HP |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Zdroj: | Parasite immunology [Parasite Immunol] 2013 Sep-Oct; Vol. 35 (9-10), pp. 283-94. |
| DOI: | 10.1111/pim.12046 |
| Abstrakt: | Trypanosoma brucei are extracellular kinetoplastid parasites transmitted by the blood-sucking tsetse fly. They are responsible for the fatal disease human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as sleeping sickness. In late-stage infection, trypanosomes cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and invade the central nervous system (CNS) invariably leading to coma and death if untreated. There is no available vaccine and current late-stage HAT chemotherapy consists of either melarsoprol, which is highly toxic causing up to 8% of deaths, or nifurtimox-eflornithine combination therapy (NECT), which is costly and difficult to administer. There is therefore an urgent need to identify new late-stage HAT drug candidates. Here, we review how current imaging tools, ranging from fluorescent confocal microscopy of live immobilized cells in culture to whole-animal imaging, are providing insight into T. brucei biology, parasite-host interplay, trypanosome CNS invasion and disease progression. We also consider how imaging tools can be used for candidate drug screening purposes that could lead to new chemotherapies. (© 2013 The Authors. Parasite Immunology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.) |
| Databáze: | MEDLINE |
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