Laboratory for Cellular and Molecular Immunology, VIB Department of Molecular and Cellular Interactions, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
Parasite Immunol. 2011 Aug;33(8):423-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3024.2011.01293.x.
African trypanosomiasis is a parasitic disease that affects a variety of mammals, including humans, on the sub-Saharan African continent. To understand the diverse parameters that govern the host-parasite-vector interactions, mouse models for the disease have proven to be a cornerstone. Despite the fact that most trypanosomes cannot be considered natural pathogens for rodents, experimental infections in mice have shed a tremendous amount of light on the general biology of these parasites and their interaction with and evasion of the mammalian immune system. Different aspects including inflammation, vaccine failure, antigenic variation, resistance/sensitivity to normal human serum and the influence of tsetse compounds on parasite transmission have all been addressed using mouse models. In more recent years, the introduction of various 'knock-out' mouse strains has allowed to analyse the implication of various cytokines, particularly TNF, IFNγ and IL-10, in the regulation of parasitaemia and induction of pathological conditions during infection.
非洲锥虫病是一种寄生虫病，影响撒哈拉以南非洲大陆的多种哺乳动物，包括人类。为了了解宿主-寄生虫-媒介相互作用的各种参数，该疾病的小鼠模型已被证明是基石。尽管大多数锥虫不能被视为啮齿动物的天然病原体，但在小鼠中的实验感染极大地揭示了这些寄生虫的一般生物学及其与哺乳动物免疫系统的相互作用和逃避。使用小鼠模型已经研究了包括炎症、疫苗失败、抗原变异、对正常人类血清的抗性/敏感性以及舌蝇化合物对寄生虫传播的影响等不同方面。在最近几年，各种“敲除”小鼠品系的引入使得分析各种细胞因子，特别是 TNF、IFNγ 和 IL-10，在寄生虫血症的调节和感染过程中病理状况的诱导中的作用成为可能。
