Generic placeholder image

Current Immunology Reviews (Discontinued)

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1573-3955
ISSN (Online): 1875-631X

Playing with Fire: Manipulation of Macrophage Proinflammatory Signal Transduction by the Intracellular Protozoan Toxoplasma gondii

Author(s): Leesun Kim, Barbara A. Butcher and Eric Y. Denkers

Volume 1, Issue 3, 2005

Page: [213 - 222] Pages: 10

DOI: 10.2174/157339505774479220

Price: $65

Abstract

The protozoan Toxoplasma gondii is an enormously successful parasite that asymptomatically infects 10-50 percent of the human population worldwide. During immunodeficiency, Toxoplasma emerges as a virulent pathogen causing lethal disease if untreated. The normally innocuous nature of infection is dependent upon the parasites ability to trigger protective immunity enabling host survival, at the same time avoiding an excessively strong immune response that could cause excessive host pathology. Recent data from our laboratory and others are revealing this key principle in action within the innate immune system. Infection triggers early activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), nuclear factor (NF)κB and signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) pathways. Nevertheless, Toxoplasma suppresses other components of proinflammatory signaling, and this is likely to down-modulate effector functions of both macrophages and dendritic cells. The ability of T. gondii to simultaneously activate and suppress signal transduction in infected cells is a likely consequence of the parasites need to manipulate cellular immunity to achieve a stable interaction at the host-parasite interface.

Keywords: signal transduction, cytokine, inflammation, protozoan infection, macrophage

Next »

Rights & Permissions Print Cite
© 2024 Bentham Science Publishers | Privacy Policy