Departamento de Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Scand J Immunol. 2011 May;73(5):408-19. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3083.2010.02505.x.
Leptospirosis is a neglected infectious disease caused by spirochetes from the genus Leptospira. It constitutes a major public health problem in developing countries, with outcomes ranging from subclinical infections to fatal pulmonary haemorrhage and Weil's syndrome. To successfully establish an infection, leptospires bind to extracellular matrix compounds and host cells. The interaction of leptospires with pathogen recognition receptors is a fundamental issue in leptospiral immunity as well as in immunophatology. Pathogenic but not saprophytic leptospires are able to evade the host complement system, circulate in the blood and spread into tissues. The target organs in human leptospirosis include the kidneys and the lungs. The association of an autoimmune process with these pathologies has been explored and diverse mechanisms that permit leptospires to survive in the kidneys of reservoir animals have been proposed. However, despite the intense research aimed at the development of a leptospirosis vaccine supported by the genome sequencing of Leptospira strains, there have been relatively few studies focused on leptospiral immunity. The knowledge of evasion strategies employed by pathogenic leptospires to subvert the immune system is of extreme importance as they may represent targets for the development of new treatments and prophylactic approaches in leptospirosis.
钩端螺旋体病是一种由钩端螺旋体属螺旋体引起的被忽视的传染病。它是发展中国家的一个主要公共卫生问题，其结果从亚临床感染到致命性肺出血和 Weil 综合征不等。为了成功建立感染，钩端螺旋体与细胞外基质化合物和宿主细胞结合。钩端螺旋体与病原体识别受体的相互作用是钩端螺旋体免疫和免疫病理学中的一个基本问题。致病性而非腐生性钩端螺旋体能够逃避宿主补体系统，在血液中循环并传播到组织中。人钩端螺旋体病的靶器官包括肾脏和肺部。已经探讨了与这些病理学相关的自身免疫过程，并且已经提出了多种允许钩端螺旋体在储存动物肾脏中存活的机制。然而，尽管为了开发由钩端螺旋体菌株基因组测序支持的钩端螺旋体病疫苗进行了大量研究，但对钩端螺旋体免疫的研究相对较少。了解致病性钩端螺旋体用来颠覆免疫系统的逃避策略非常重要，因为它们可能成为开发新的钩端螺旋体病治疗方法和预防方法的靶点。
