Villalta Fernando, Madison M Nia, Kleshchenko Yuliya Y, Nde Pius N, Lima Maria F
Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immune Response, School of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, 1005 Dr. D.B. Todd Jr. Blvd., Nashville, TN 37208-3599, USA.
Front Biosci. 2008 May 1;13:3714-34. doi: 10.2741/2961.
Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas heart disease, infects heart and other cells leading to cardiac arrest frequently followed by death. The disease affects millions of individuals in the Americas and is posing health problems because of blood transmission in the US due to large Latin American immigration. Since the current drugs present serious side effects and do not cure the chronic infection, it is critically important to understand the early process of cellular infection at the molecular and structural levels to design novel inhibitors to block T. cruzi infection. In this review, the authors critically analyze the molecular and cellular basis of early T. cruzi infection and discuss the future directions in this area. The candidate T. cruzi invasive genes and host genes involved in the process of early infection are just beginning to be understood. The trypanosome invasive proteins are excellent targets for intervention. The progress made in the cell biology of T. cruzi infection will also facilitate the development of novel cell-based therapies to ameliorate the disease.
克氏锥虫是恰加斯心脏病的病原体，它感染心脏和其他细胞，常导致心脏骤停，随后往往致人死亡。这种疾病影响着美洲数百万人口，并且由于大量拉丁美洲移民进入美国，通过血液传播带来了健康问题。由于目前的药物存在严重副作用且无法治愈慢性感染，从分子和结构层面了解细胞感染的早期过程对于设计新型抑制剂来阻断克氏锥虫感染至关重要。在这篇综述中，作者批判性地分析了克氏锥虫早期感染的分子和细胞基础，并讨论了该领域的未来发展方向。参与早期感染过程的候选克氏锥虫入侵基因和宿主基因才刚刚开始被了解。锥虫入侵蛋白是理想的干预靶点。克氏锥虫感染细胞生物学方面取得的进展也将促进新型细胞疗法的开发，以改善这种疾病。
