Institut Pasteur, Biology of Spirochetes Unit, National Reference Centre and WHO Collaborating Center for Leptospirosis, 28 Rue du Docteur Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2017 May;15(5):297-307. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro.2017.5. Epub 2017 Mar 6.
Pathogenic leptospires are the bacterial agents of leptospirosis, which is an emerging zoonotic disease that affects animals and humans worldwide. The success of leptospires as pathogens is explained by their spiral shape and endoflagellar motility (which enable these spirochetes to rapidly cross connective tissues and barriers), as well as by their ability to escape or hijack the host immune system. However, the basic biology and virulence factors of leptospires remain poorly characterized. In this Review, we discuss the recent advances in our understanding of the epidemiology, taxonomy, genomics and the molecular basis of virulence in leptospires, and how these properties contribute to the mechanism of pathogenesis of leptospirosis.
致病钩端螺旋体是钩端螺旋体病的细菌病原体，这是一种新兴的人畜共患病，影响着全球的动物和人类。钩端螺旋体作为病原体的成功可以用它们的螺旋形状和鞭毛运动（使这些螺旋体能够快速穿过结缔组织和屏障）来解释，也可以用它们逃避或劫持宿主免疫系统的能力来解释。然而，钩端螺旋体的基本生物学和毒力因子仍未得到充分描述。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了最近在我们对钩端螺旋体的流行病学、分类学、基因组学和毒力分子基础的理解方面的进展，以及这些特性如何有助于钩端螺旋体病发病机制的研究。
