El-Ansary Afaf, Al-Daihan Soad
Department of Biochemistry, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Med Sci Monit. 2006 Dec;12(12):RA282-292. Epub 2006 Nov 23.
The Biomphalaria species are freshwater snails which have a wide distribution and are significant both medically and economically as intermediate hosts for the schistosome parasite, a digenetic trematode causing schistosomiasis, a disease that infects 200 million people, and domestic animals throughout the tropics. The host-parasite relationship is, in principle, a powerful determinant of the biology of infection and disease. Research on snail-schistosome interactions has the potential for making an important contribution to the study of co-evolution or reciprocal adaptation. The association between Biomphalaria and Schistosoma mansoni could well be an excellent model for studies aimed at elucidating some aspects of the compatibility or resistance of this species to schistosomes. Snail hosts and schistosomes appear to have effects on each other's phenotype and genotype. The objective of this review is to clarify the nature of the relationship between schistosome parasites and their freshwater snail hosts. Aspects of snail-schistosome interactions will be traced in relation to behavioral (growth, reproduction, locomotion), immunological, and biochemical changes induced in the host's tissues by the developing intramolluscan stages of the parasite. This may help to identify biochemical or genetic targets for drug design. Manipulation of the intermediate host through these targets could break the cycle of human and snail infection by schistosomes.
双脐螺属物种是淡水螺，分布广泛，作为血吸虫寄生虫的中间宿主，在医学和经济方面都具有重要意义。血吸虫是一种复殖吸虫，可导致血吸虫病，这种疾病感染了热带地区的2亿人以及家畜。宿主与寄生虫的关系原则上是感染和疾病生物学的一个强大决定因素。对螺 - 血吸虫相互作用的研究有可能为共同进化或相互适应的研究做出重要贡献。双脐螺与曼氏血吸虫之间的关联很可能是一个出色的模型，可用于旨在阐明该物种对血吸虫的相容性或抗性某些方面的研究。螺宿主和血吸虫似乎会对彼此的表型和基因型产生影响。本综述的目的是阐明血吸虫寄生虫与其淡水螺宿主之间关系的本质。将追踪螺 - 血吸虫相互作用的各个方面，这些方面与寄生虫在螺体内发育阶段在宿主组织中引起的行为（生长、繁殖、运动）、免疫和生化变化有关。这可能有助于确定药物设计的生化或基因靶点。通过这些靶点对中间宿主进行操控，可能会打破血吸虫对人类和螺的感染循环。
